Betty and the Mysterious Visitor

Betty loves to visit her grandma every summer in the village of Wobbly Bottom. She especially delights in the garden, Acorn Hollows, which all the residents of grandma’s terrace of cottages share. It’s full of trees and burgeoning with wildlife. There her gran grows a variety of fruits and Betty enjoys helping to pick them and make jam to sell in the local market.

On market day morning Betty wakes full of excitement but that soon becomes shock horror. When she looks out of the window the garden is a muddy mess. Grandma says they must leave finding out how this happened and hurry to market. There its’s all hustle and bustle and by teatime all the jam has been sold. As they leave Betty determines to discover who had ruined the Hollows. That night as she watches the moonlit garden through her bedroom window she sees a large animal pushing its nose under the fence but it soon disappears. Next morning Grandma tells Betty the animal was likely a badger and to expect further visits. Over the next few nights the badger wreaks havoc in the garden: Betty is greatly concerned: suppose the badger gets into the fruit cage? She has an idea and the following morning starts putting her creativity to work, fashioning an alarming monster and then laying a trail to where she has erected it. Emily Sutton’s scene of the night garden guarded by the scare-badger is magnificent. That night Betty sits wide awake watching and sure enough in comes the badger but then it stops suddenly and when the wind blows it has such an effect on the creature that it turns and beats a hasty retreat.

The following morning she tells Grandma what had occurred, including that the badger looked directly at her, seemingly saying goodbye. Grandma is delighted and the two celebrate with hot chocolate under the trees.

Anne Twist was inspired by her own countryside garden and her debut picture book story is a wonderful celebration of the natural world and the bond between Betty and her grandma. Emily Sutton really makes that world come alive in her lavish illustrations, every one of which is so rich in detail that each time you read the book, you will discover something new.