In the order of the seventh story, the badger Chrujda deals with disturbing the peace of the forest. The newly moved in band of bats beats the drums all night and Chrujda and even his lovely weasel Anička can't sleep because of them. Fortunately, the badger has his friend the owl Stáňa, who will advise him on solving every problem.
Chrujda's plot is playful, full of original ideas and high-quality humor, which amuses not only children, but also adults (for example, a bear gives artificial respiration to a hare, and soon it is discovered that it is actually tasting it). Despite the short scope, the author manages to play out an interesting story filled with funny and surprising moments, for example Petr Stančík is able to describe the fate of the main pest here in just four sentences without it seeming rushed.
Although the book is part of a series, it is easy to understand even for those who have not read the previous parts. In his text, Petr Stančík takes these readers into account and each character is introduced in at least one sentence. However, these introductions do not have a violent effect on the text and will not bother even those who have already read the previous parts.
Lucie Dvořák's illustrations complement the text perfectly. The images are cute enough to win over a child reader, but not cheesy. For example, the appearance of bats perfectly balances the border between playfulness, craziness and cuteness. In addition, the illustrations are also very funny and sometimes even compete with the text itself with their humor.
What can be read about the book is its length. Even the smallest readers probably won't last more than one evening. It is therefore a question whether it would not be better to publish several of Chrujd's stories together in one volume.
Jana Bočková
STANČÍK, Petr. Jezevec Chrujda zakládá pěvecký sbor netopejrů. Praha: Meander, 2019.
The review was created at the Department of Journalism of FSV UK under the supervision of PhDr. Jana Čeňková, Ph.D.
