Paddington Races Ahead

Paddington Races Ahead
Michael Bond

Paddington – the beloved, classic bear from Darkest Peru – is back in this fantastically funny, brand new, illustrated novel from master storyteller Michael Bond!“My legs are a bit short for the pole vault!” repeated Paddington hotly. “But they’ve always been that way.”Somehow Paddington Bear always manages to find himself in unusual situations. So it is no surprise when he gets into a spot of bother with some shaving cream, causes a London bus to be evacuated, and is mistaken for a famous Peruvian hurdler by a film crew. Will the chance of becoming a star of the screen take Paddington away from the Brown family of number 32 Windsor Gardens?Paddington Bear has been delighting adults and children alike with his earnest good intentions and humorous misadventures for over fifty years.

Copyright (#ulink_6b2e1180-5b26-54bf-a379-37d3b33f705c)

First published in hardback in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2012

This edition published in 2018

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Text copyright © Michael Bond 2012

Illustrations copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2012

Cover illustration copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd and Peggy Fortnum 1974

The author and illustrator assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work.

Cover illustration adapted and coloured by Mark Burgess from the original by Peggy Fortnum

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Conditions of Sale

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form, binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Source ISBN: 9780007458851

EPub Edition © APRIL 2012 ISBN: 9780007468263

Version: 2018-05-23

Contents

Cover (#uf30d914e-444f-5e38-9d36-6174f0631e91)

Title Page (#u9ca49c13-f363-50ab-a6c7-22ab02ed1884)

Copyright

1. Mr Curry’s Birthday Treat

2. A Fishy Business

3. Spring-cleaning

4. A Chance Encounter

5. Paddington in Training

6. Paddington Flies a Kite

7. Paddington on Track

About the Author

Other Books by Michael Bond

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#ulink_0f1a289b-371c-52b5-b489-10267815d47f)

MR CURRY’S BIRTHDAY TREAT (#ulink_0f1a289b-371c-52b5-b489-10267815d47f)

EARLY ONE SPRING morning Paddington hurried into the garden as soon as he had finished breakfast in order to inspect his rockery. He was an optimistic bear at heart, and having planted some seeds the day before, he was looking forward to seeing the results.

The seeds had been a free gift in one of Mrs Brown’s magazines, and the picture on the side of the packet was a blaze of bright yellow flowers. Some of them were almost as tall as the magazine’s gardening expert, Alf Greenways.

Mr Greenways was known to his many friends in the trade as ‘Beanpole Greenways’, so it was as good a recommendation for success as anyone could possibly wish for.

He also owned the nursery supplying the sunflower seeds, so it was no wonder he was beaming all over his face as he held a watering can aloft, spurring his blooms to even greater heights.

Paddington got down on all fours and peered at the freshly-raked soil in his patch of garden, but apart from a disconsolate-looking caterpillar, there wasn’t so much as the tiniest of green shoots to be seen. Everything was exactly as he had left it the night before when he had gone outside with a torch before going to bed.

Mr Greenway’s seeds were rather large and he couldn’t help wondering if he had planted them upside down by mistake.

A robin redbreast landed on a nearby rock to take a closer look at what was going on, but having spotted Paddington’s network of cotton threads protecting the patch, it flew off in disgust.

Mr Brown was right. Gardens were a good example of life in the raw; a constant battle between good and evil. Slugs, for example, were given very short shrift, often ending up with the contents of a salt cellar upended over them, whereas worms were always welcome – unless of course they happened to come up for air in the middle of the lawn.

All the same, it was disappointing, and for a moment or two Paddington toyed with the idea of going indoors and fetching his binoculars in case the caterpillar had a hearty appetite and he could see traces of green on its lips.

He was in the middle of weighing up the pros and cons when he heard an all-too-familiar voice calling out to him.

His heart sank as he looked up and saw the Browns’ neighbour peering at him over the top of the fence. Not that there was anything new in that; Mr Curry was a notorious busybody and he spent his life poking his nose into other people’s affairs.

Because his patch of garden coincided with some higher ground on Mr Curry’s side, Paddington often bore the brunt.

It was most disappointing. Mr Brown had spent half of the weekend raising the fence at that particular point, with the express intention of putting a stop to their neighbour’s spying.