Paddington Marches on (Paddington, #6) by Michael Bond

Paddington Marches on (Paddington, #6) Reviews

• 
  Sheila Beaumont

  The Paddington books are great fun for all ages. In this one, the bear from Darkest Peru is invited to a marmalade factory, mistakes a policeman for a waxwork at Madame Tussaud's, and saves the day in a cricket match.
• 
  Jo Hurst

  Paddington is definitely not just for kids. I read these as a child and loved them and they are just as wonderful now. I enjoyed the nostalgic element of remembering winters where pipes could freeze ( whilst feeling cozy in my centrally heated house!) and Paddington does remind us of a simpler time. It’s also very funny! Expertly read by ‘Mr Brown’ Hugh Bonniville this was a pleasure to listen too. My children enjoyed it too with my 8 year old saying ‘Michael Bond is very funny. He writes very good sentences!”
• 
  L Y N N

  This was absolutely adorable! An adorable book of stories about Paddington's adventures and an adorable and well-meaning bear who seems to get himself out of fraught situations without even trying! :)
• 
  Ejayen

  Paddington is so much fun. None of these stories were to cringy, except for, for poor My Curry.
• 
  Katherine Meyer

  Also a charming tale of Paddington, though I enjoyed it less than the first book. I think that was simply because the novelty had worn off.
• 
  Joan

  Paddington Bear has several more adventures as only Paddington can do them. Of course all work out however implausible it is. No one particularly cares since so many implausible things are just taken for granted by the British to begin with in this series! This is a comforting series for kids since they know however much chaos and mess, it all will work out for Paddington Bear and his friends. Recommended.
• 
  Blagovesta

  Първа среща с книжка за Падингтън, но не и последна! Безкрайно симпатично мече, което ме разсмя с глас, докато четох за приключенията му :). Явно е вярно това, което казват - човек никога не е твърде пораснал да чете детски книги.
• 
  Illiterate

  The visit to Madame Tussauds is particularly amusing.
• 
  Tayla

  I brought a mystery set of 5 children’s books from Oxfam and this is one of them. I made it a goal for Easter weekend to read all five and then either keep or donate them.
  
  This is just a really cute selection of stories about Paddington bear. I feel like people of any age would love this book if they love Paddington Bear.
• 
  Alexa

  I didn't love this one quite as much as the others, but my god the cold snap story had me literally out of my chair with laughter, it was hilarious!!! The stories with Paddington attempting to help and immediately making the problem worse are probably my favourite tbh
• 
  Jenan

  RIP Michael Bond. You've given me and so many others some of our warmest childhood memories.
• 
  John Bohnert

  It's always a treat to read a book about Paddington.
• 
  Tiffany Spencer

  Paddington Marches
  When Paddington wakes up it’s snowing. A little too much for his liking. Still, he decides to take advantage of it. So he goes outside and snowballs and then he builds a snowball. This attracts the attention of his neighbor Mr. Curry. He surprisingly says he isn’t bothered by the snowballs and instead asks if Paddington will go to the man who does off-jobs and tell him his system is frozen. If he does this he’ll give him ten cents. But Paddington knows how this will go. Mr. Curry has a habit of asking him for favors and then when it comes time to pay him he comes up short.
  
  Mr. James knows this too but since Paddington comes by. What he does is gives Paddington a book and a piece of equipment to do it himself (a blow lamp?). He tells Paddington to take it or leave it and sends him on his way. Somehow this turns into Paddington taking the book and the blow lamp and taking it upon himself to do the work. When Mr. Curry calls to him, he grunts to sound like Mr. James.
  
  Paddington tries to follow the book, but I can imagine it would be like me trying to read one of my best friends' computer manuals. Maybe the author was familiar with plumbing because it gets very descriptive about what all Paddington does. So, warning it gets kind of boring during this part. Mr. Curry comes out the house and Paddington tells him he’s looking for his cock stop. This makes Mr. Curry upset and he gets offended and demands to know where Mr. James is (and where all the water is coming from). Paddington at this point decides he’s had enough of plumbing.
  
  The Browns talk about how Mr. Curry is having someone work on a new bathroom and how he came by to give Paddington ten cents. In Chapter 2, Paddington gets some mail that contains a gold card. It’s from Sir Huntly Martin inviting Paddington to tour his marmalade factory and a special tea with an award given. The rest are also invited and can tour the factory later in the afternoon. That Monday, Paddington (now clean and shiny) climbs into a special-ordered taxi. When they reach the building, the taxi drops him a few miles away and tells him he can’t get him any closer because of an obstruction, but to follow his nose. When he tries to do this he falls flat on his face. Now he’s covered in dust and oil. Then he discovers he dropped his invitation down the drain. There’s some confusion about who he is when he gets there. The guard thinks he’s there looking for employment. Since they’re short-staffed and he says he’s had experience in marmalade, they decide to start Paddington in the barrel section. Paddington says he wants to start in the chunks department but the man says the barrels need to be scrubbed and he’ll probably find chunks in them. The man says he’ll be paid five pents a barrel. Two for the short ones Paddington says he’d rather start in the tesing department but the foreman says he has to start at the bottom and he’d be lucky to get that high up a job,
  
  Left alone, Paddington thinks about how things have gone terribly wrong. But he decides it’s a good opportunity to use the water hose so he begins to work. He starts to enjoy it and cleans all of the two penny barrells. The five-penny ones seem more difficult. All he had to do with the smaller ones were climb inside and splash about. There are some thunder claps and he wants to get as much done as he can before the storm. Sir Huntley hears the thunder too and keeps interrupting his speech.
  
  The Browns are outside wondering where Paddington is. If he doesn’t hurry up he’ll miss the ceremony. Jonathan notices it’s not thunder. It’s barrels coming their way. The barrels come crashing into the audience. The foreman says it’s the worker he took on. Sir Huntley corrects him and says that’s his guest. Mrs. Bird says it’s a good thing he got into one of the barrels. Sir Huntley asks him what happened. Paddington says he got into the bottom by mistake. After this, he opens the object officially. Paddington sees his paw marks in the cement. Then they go to the tea and have a special marmalade “Director’s Marmalade” for the occasion. Huntley says he’d like his opinion on it and the Browns says that only Paddington could fall into the cement of a new factory, leave his mark, and then get rewarded for it.
  
  In Chapter 3, Paddington is brought breakfast in bed by Mrs. Bird which makes him suspicious. He then notices the house looks like a hurricane hit it. Mrs. Bird tells him they’re going to be spring cleaning. Mrs. Bird doesn’t think she and Mrs. Brown should take Paddington with them shopping. So, they decide to leave him behind. Paddington asks if there’s something to do to help and it’s suggested he do some light dusting. Mrs. Brown isn’t happy about leaving him there but leaves anyway. Paddington’s attention is caught by a box with chimney sweeper equipment and the directions go on to say how easy it is. He tests it out and it goes easily. The she sot fills up several bags but it doesn’t seem he’ll ever get to the top. Anxious to see the sweeper poke out the chimney pot, he goes outside and he’s proud when he sees what he’s done. But then he realizes the brush is missing. It’s become detached and there’s a warning in the directions about this happening. Then it says consult your nearest dealer. So, he decides to clean the living room. It’s now all covered in soot and dust.
  
  Later, when Mr. Brown tries to light the fire it keeps going out. Mrs. Brown tells him it’s probably blacked. He looks at the rods and says he’s sending them back. They’re already filthy and there’s no brush. Mrs. Brown says maybe Paddington knows where it is. Mrs. Bird is suspicious but says nothing. She’s seen signs of the rushed clean-up job. Mr. Bricks comes by and says they have jackdaws in their chimney and he attempts to push the rods up the chimney to get them out. Something heavy lands in the grates. They find the brush. It’s in Paddington’s hat. Paddington then appears wearing a chimney pot on his head. They send him upstairs to take a bath, but before he goes Mr. Bricks compliments him on the great job he did cleaning out the chimney.
  
  The next day, Paddington goes to tell his friend Mr. Grooper says he wants to treat Paddington to a trip. They decide on an afternoon mystery tour. Paddington learns he’s in a Wax Museum when he tries to buy a postcard to gie to Mr. Goover. Paddington loses Mr. Groover in the crowd. He has some chocolate that’s starting to melt and he puts it in the hands of what he thinks is a wax statue but it turns out to be a real man. He tries to explain but then he takes off running and tries to find Mr. Groover. Paddington is able to hide out in a room, but he overhears some people outside talking about “Charlie Peace”. The corridor gets full and he realizes that all the crowds are looking at him thinking he’s “Charlie Peace”. It causes a commotion when they realize he’s alive. Then the soldier catches him, He’s outraged and says he’ll have to take Paddington to the manager. He ducks and covers his head and somehow he runs back into Mr. Gruoover. Paddington ends up in an article in the pape and he and Mr. Groover buy copies (one for Paddington’s scrapbook).
  
  The next chapter Paddington is allowed to replace one of Jonathan’s teammates in a cricket game (and I really won’t go into this one because I just can not do a sports story (Justice). And as a coincidence, a friend of mine that lives in Australia just sent a video explaining cricket. Paddington doesn’t really think much of the game. At the end of the game he’s asked to come back next (year? Summer?) but he says he’ll come back and be the one that passes out the lemonade
  
  
  In the next chapter, the Browns and Paddington plan to spend the day at the beach. Mrs. Bird wants to make sandwiches but Mr. Brown says don’t bother. They’ll eat at a restaurant. As they set up their things on the beach, they see Paddington arguing with the man at the ticket counter. The man isn’t happy that he’s testing the chairs and hasn’t paid anything on it. He thinks the man’s overcharing to sit in a chair but the man takes the money. The man points out if he wants to make some money back he’ll go see “Basil Bud”. He’s giving away five pounds to anyone who confronts him. Paddington reads the poster over carefully and then goes to join the Browns in the water. Paddington sits alone and watches to see if he sees anyone that looks like Basil Bud. When he doesn’t see anyone fitting the description, after a while he falls asleep.
  
  After this Paddington and the Browns go to lunch. Paddington is late and says he had a very unusual dream. The Browns notice he’s acting a little anxious. He says he thinks he sees Basil Bud. He says that’s what the dream was about and he thinks he’s going to confront him,. So he goes over to the man and demands his five pounds and hands him the newspaper. The man says his name isn’t Bud. But Paddington demands his money. The man is just as adamant that he’s not Basil. Threats are made to call the police and Paddington pulls the man’s beard. It doesn’t come off and Paddington apologizes quickly. But the man calls for the manager. Paddington says he say two men putting on a beard behind two deck chairs, but he got the wrong men. Who he saw was “South Coast Charlie”. The police has been looking for them and they say there will be a reward for Paddington. The man (falsely accused) invites them to eat with him and he says he’ll show him some tricks (he’s a magician). There’s a lot of them at the beach that say for some reason (convention?)
  
  In Chapter Seven, Paddington realizes some odd things going on. There’s the smell of cakes early in the morning and Mr. Brown is acting strange. He’s pushing a wheelbarrow down the garden path. Mrs. Bird tells him not to eat that much that morning because they’re having a party and it’s going to have TONS of food. She says Mr. Groover and Mr. Curry are invited. But Paddington wonders what the party is for. No one is saying. Mr. Groubor gives him a book of party tricks that look interesting. By the time the guest arrive the living from is full to capacity. Paddington is put on the spot to do some of his tricks. Only he hasn’t practiced. The first trick is the disappearance of the disappearing note. Everyone seems to have no money and so Mr. Curry is called on. Paddington starts to tear up the bill. Then he looks at the book. He says something has gone wrong. The note is supposed to turn up in his ear. He notices he’s done the wrong trick. He’s done the Paper Dolly Trick. Another trick is suggested for Paddington to try. The How to Remove A Waistcoat Without taking off the Coat trick. Mr. Crry wants to see it and he’s the only one wearing a waistcoat. But one of the pages is missing and Paddington splits his coat.
  
  Mr. Brown gives a speech dedicated to Paddington being with them for three years. Then he’s asked if he’d like to go visit his family in Peru. He says he’d like this and they all have cake. They all sing and have cake. Even Mr. Curry. (Aunt Lucy). After the party, they all get gloomy. They thought it was a good idea at first but now they can’t stand the idea of him never coming back, Paddington has decided to leave some things behind and they feel better seeing that he’s not going to stay. Paddington will be happy to see his Aunt Lucy but can’t wait to come back to the Browns and Mr. Grrouber.
  
  My Thoughts
  This was cute! The Paddington books always are because Paddington is just lovably always doing what he thinks is the right thing but it always ends him in some kind of hot water. The only story I didn’t really like was the one with him on the cricket team. But it went by quickly. I thought I’d already read the last one, but I seem to remember there being a watch also that got destroyed. So maybe this was cut. But I always enjoy hearing about the mischief Paddington gets into. I’m trying to think of the one I liked best since I named the one I liked least. It was probably the one with the party because it just felt like they all got together and set Mr, Curry up on purpose and I think that was something else that was left out from my memory. Also because I remember how fun it was when my cousin was into learning magic tricks and there were these kits way back when at Toys R US and he’d always buy them and try to put on little shows. Good memories!
  
  Rating: 6
  
• 
  Jamie Bowen

  Whenever you need cheering up, always read a Paddington book. He’s so innocent, gets himself into all sorts of trouble but always comes through at the end of the day. Great fun!
• 
  chucklesthescot

  There are certain things that a bear should just not be trusted with and the first one is plumbing. In fairness to Mr Curry, he only asked Paddington to fetch the plumber as he wasn't feeling too well, but when the plumber won't come because of an unpaid bill, Paddington decides to use the plumber's manual to try his paw at it instead. There is a disaster of only Paddington proportions! On the bright side, Paddington gets an invite to a ceremony at a marmalade factory. Things start to go wrong when he loses his invitation outside, gets mistaken for a new employee, and sets about his work with no idea what he is doing. A very sticky situation, especially when you have fur!
  
  A second thing you should never do is mention a job that needs done in the house that you intend to do, and then leave Paddington alone in the house. Bears were not designed to be chimney sweeps as Mr Brown is about to find out to his cost. It serves the silly man right! If he had just went ahead and cleaned the chimney instead of moaning about it in front of the bear, none of it would've happened! Mr Gruber cheers Paddington up with a trip to the waxworks which gets off to a bad start due to Paddington's inability to tell real people from waxworks and it all goes downhill from there. Paddington is able to redeem himself by stepping in at the last minute when Mr Brown's cricket team is a man short. But Paddington has never played before and his pads are so big that he can hide behind them!
  
  Surely a simple trip to the seaside can take place without any drama? Well, no, not when Paddington hears there is a £5 prize for identifying a local celebrity who is somewhere in the area. When the bear thinks he has found his man, nothing is going to persuade him that he might have it wrong! A party gives Paddington the chance to entertain his trader friends from the market, torment Mr Curry and get a big surprise!
  
  I really enjoy Paddington's relationship with the Brown family and they are good characters in their own right. My favourite is Mrs Bird the housekeeper, the only one who is often in tune with what might be going on in Paddington's mind! Mr Brown is somewhat hapless and you'd think after the decorating fiasco, he'd make sure that there was no invitation to the bear to do it himself...
• 
  Brie

  Another wonderful addition to the Paddington series. Although I'm pretty sure I will be able to say that of all of them once we finish them (I've been reading them with my 6 year old daughter).
  
  This book begins with Paddington helping Mr. Curry out with a plumbing problem. As you can imagine, it doesn't go well. Next, he heads to a Marmalade factory as the guest of honor, but mistakenly gets put to work instead. Don't worry, he eventually makes it to the ceremony via an orange marmalade barrel. He also attempts to clean the chimney, goes to the wax museum with Mr. Gruber, plays cricket, and while at a party thrown in his honor, he learns that he will be returning to Peru to visit his Aunt Lucy.
  
  
• 
  Fi's Journey

  I'm really enjoying listening and reading this series (read by Hugh Bonneville) and the escapade's Paddington always gets into. Definitely recommend this series to younger audiences who want to follow the adventures of a bear who comes from Peru and now lives with the Brown Family in Winter Gardens in London.
  
  2nd time reading: this is just much of a joy the second round! Listening to Paddington has become a comfort read for me. It's a lot of fun, funny and atmospheric. Love Paddington!
• 
  Tracy

  Ah, Paddington of the “hard stares” and ever-ready marmalade sandwiches. Fans will be far from let down with the Peruvian Bear’s plumbing attempts, a visit to a marmalade factory, a day out by the sea, his cricket adventures or his mystery tour.
• 
  Nina

  Book six and it’s still hilarious, causing me to have several LOL moments in public. Onwards to book seven!
• 
  Becky

  This won't be our favorite one, but still some very funny memorable moments.
• 
  Katja Labonté

  4 stars & 4/10 hearts. Oh—my... oh—my. I laughed so hard reading this book. Chapter One had me in stitches. Chapter Three had me helpless with laughter. And Chapter Five almost strangled me with laughter. There were a few euphemisms, but I think this is the best Paddington book so far!
  
  A Favourite Humorous Quote: “‘Here we are, guv’,’ [the cab driver] said. ‘Can’t get right up to the gates, I’m afraid. There’s a bit of an obstruction. But it’s only a few yards up the road. Can’t miss it. Just follow yer nose.’
  “The driver paused and looked down out of his cab with growing concern as Paddington, after stepping down on to the pavement, began twisting about for several seconds and then suddenly fell over and landed with a bump in the gutter. 
  “‘’Ere,’ he called anxiously. ‘Are you all right?’
  “‘I think so,’ gasped Paddington, feeling himself to make sure. ‘I was only trying to follow my nose, but it kept disappearing.’
  “‘Well, you ’as to point it in the right direction to start with,” said the driver, as he helped Paddington to his feet and began dusting him down.”
• 
  David Giard

  With "Paddington Marches On", I am now halfway through the twelve collections of short stories that Michael Bond published about the talking bear Paddington Brown.
  
  Paddington continues to get in trouble, despite his best intentions. And, in each case, things work themselves out for the best. Mr. Bond has found a formula and it works. We keep reading because we like Paddington and we care about him and we want him to succeed, even though we know he always will.
  
  As a bonus, I learned a bit about the sport of cricket!
  
  And there is a nice surprise for Paddington and for the reader at the end of the last story!
• 
  Kest Schwartzman

  I had forgotten how directly the paddington series deals with racism. It does so in an even way, easy to discuss with kids, which is probably why I forgot it.
  
  Also, I LOVE Paddington. He's perfect in all ways.
• 
  Claire

  I adore reading the Paddington books, even though I've read them many times before. Even as a 50-something 'old lady,' he still charms me. I'm re-reading the series just for fun between other reads.
• 
  Selah

  I've enjoyed my Paddington marathon no end! It has been the perfect no stress reading for the week before Christmas. Now, I'm ready for something different for a bit.
• 
  Andy

  This book was alright, the sense of humor was okay although harder to appreciate and understand being an older book. It is a good book to read for a time, but not always my first choice
• 
  Indah Threez Lestari

  211 - 2018
• 
  Lissa

  I love Paddington but I have never read a single one of his books. Until now.
  I spent a very pleasant afternoon outside with some wine and this book. It is ridiculous but charming.