Paddington Goes for Gold (Paddington)

By: Michael Bond, R.W. Alley

Narrated by: Stephen Fry

A brand new picture book starring Paddington, the classic bear from Darkest Peru, as he takes part in a local family sports event, with hilarious results!

When Paddington attends a local family sports event with the Brown family, he can’t wait to try his paw at as many activities as possible. But, as always, when Paddington is around, things do not quite go according to plan… with outrageously sticky results.

And as Paddington soon finds out, it’s not winning that counts, it’s the taking part…

Will Paddington go home with any prizes?

©2012 Michael Bond

Critic reviews

Praise for the Paddington series:

'I've always had great respect for Paddington… He is a British institution.' Stephen Fry

'Paddington has joined Pooh as one of the great bears of English children's literature.' The Teacher

'Michael Bond's accident-prone bear…has become one of the most enduring of children's characters.' The Bookseller

Too Short but as Charming as the Other Books

I'm torn about how to review this book. I adore Stephen Fry's narration, and we all have loved the Paddington stories. I'd particularly recommend the other two that are available on Audible. I realize this comment may be unfair, but I didn't notice how short this one was when I bought it. The other two audios are over 2 hours long and this is like 13 minutes. So I wanted to warn any prospective purchasers who thought this was volume 3 of a wonderful series.

On the other hand, anyone who loves children's books on audio needs to listen to Paddington as read by Fry. I would just recommend the other 2 recordings.

A short story

Little better than a chapter from one of the other Paddington books. You are done with this before you really know that it's ending. Basically, Paddington and the Browns go to a community sports event with things from bicycle racing to knitting competitions (it's a British thing). As per the usual Paddington style, he makes a mess of things but wins out in the end. My biggest reason for marking this down both overall and the story is that it feels rushed like there are vignettes of things and the segues between the events aren't there. Then it's the almost full price of a book for what should be only short story. Still if you like Paddington stories and your family likes it, it's worth it to round out the collection that it currently available.