Synopsis
When apples, worms and roots become unbearably boring, Badger sets off to find more exciting food—but he can't quite catch the main ingredients. Badger keeps searching until in frustration he shouts: “I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!” Unfortunately, a nearby horse doesn't think that is so funny.
Keiko Kasza, a master at surprise twists on the last page, includes clever panels to show what happens to the animals who escape Badger's grasp, allowing kids to be in on the satisfying way they unwittingly get back at their tormentor.
Children's Literature
Badger is tired of the same old food in his den. But when he sets out to catch something fancy, like a mole for a taco with salsa, he finds the mole to be too slippery a target. His attempt at a rat burger is also frustrated, as is that for a rabbit banana split. Each time, his quarry finds "a perfect place to hide." Furious and hungry, Badger screams that he could eat a horse, but a nearby horse just kicks him up and away back into his own den. There, to his surprise, he finds his food gone and, in its place, a thank-you note from mole, rat, and rabbit. For as we have seen in peel-away pages in the illustrations, the "perfect place" they found to hide has been his den. The visual humor requires Badger to be omnivorous. Kasza uses multiple naturalistic gouache images to portray the sequence of events. The main part of the double pages shows him stalking the small animals. In the corner, we see his tasty dish wish. But it is on the other corner as the page curls that we can spot the escaping prey going into his den for their vegetarian treats. Justice triumphs. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz