Otters vs Badgers by Anya Glazer
What will stop Otters and Badgers from fighting? Francie has some ideas to save the day and they are delicious! Check out Anya’s blog today about her book!
Cookies to share, in books and in life
When I first started working on my picture book Otters vs Badgers, I didn’t know how much it would become a story about cookies.
The book is about feuding groups of otters and badgers who argue about everything and must learn to live alongside each other. I wanted to explore the idea that despite their differences, it is always possible to find common ground. I knew I needed something to serve as this bridge – a neutral thing, claimed by neither side – which one might connect with on an instinctive, irrefutable level. It could have been music, dance, or any number of things that function as a universal language, with the potential to transcend differences and bring people together. For me, it was natural to make this story about food.
Food, and cooking, has always played a big part of our family life – as it does for so many – through meals shared, recipes passed down, gatherings centred around feasts. I have always had a sweet tooth, so for me this is especially the case with baked goods. From an early age I remember baking with my mum, ‘helping’ to make birthday cakes (and sampling a lot of frosting in the process) or proudly learning the secret ingredient in her chocolate chip cookies. And the thing with cookies, and cakes and traybakes and the like, is that they are made to be shared. So many of those baking-based memories are also about sharing them with others: the days in primary school when each classmate would bring in a homemade cake on their birthday, brownies baked for charity bake sales, blondies carefully wrapped and posted to friends. (I’d only recommend doing this if you can guarantee next day delivery). It’s a labour of love, shared. And, maybe because the point of sweet treats is rarely (or never) nutrition, but the delight of the taste of the thing, it’s a way of spreading of joy.
That’s how Francie in Otters vs Badgers sees it. Baking is her passion, but it’s also her way of expressing herself and connecting with others – in her own otter community, and outside of it. It’s the treats she shares that first break the stalemate between the two sides. The otters and badgers don’t see eye to eye on anything, but neither can deny that Francie’s baking is delicious. That doesn’t suddenly resolve everything, but it’s an opening for dialogue rather than conflict. It’s a start, in the form of a blueberry chocolate cookie.
Food shared is a way of reaching out, an expression of kindness or friendship. It’s something you can see throughout children’s literature. From my own childhood favourites, there’s Sara in A Little Princess giving her buns to the beggar child outside the bakery, or Ermengarde taking her hamper of treats up to the attic. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, it’s the moment when Harry and Ron first cement their friendship on the Hogwarts Express, bonding over Harry’s hoard of sweets (and Ron’s neglected sandwiches). More recently, Felicita Sala’s picture book Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street has the residents of an apartment block come together through meals cooked and shared. Similar themes are at the heart of Gaëtan Dorémus’ Empty Fridge and Our Little Kitchen by Jillian Tamaki – food as the foundation of community.
I hope that’s something to take away from Otters vs Badgers too. Both within the story, and beyond it: at the back of the book is a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. It’s tried and tested and simple enough for kids and parents to make together – and then, hopefully, to share with others too.