Madame Badobedah
A true adventurer is always barefoot and we cannot agree more. Madame Badobedah is one of our favorite books of the year! When a peculiar guest arrives at the Mermaid hotel, little Mabel is on the case! Naming the guest with way too many trunks Madame Badobedah, Mabel investigates the new visitor to her parent’s hotel and her findings are shocking! Is she the jewelry thief Mabel once thought or is there an even bigger secret to uncover?
Madame Badobedah
Mabel’s parents own the beautiful Mermaid hotel and Mabel has the privilege of seeing guests from all over the world come and stay. But no guest has been more peculiar than Madame Badobedah, who Mabel has named. She is mean, comes with so many bags and pets and most of all, she is very mysterious. Could she be a jewel thief or an international spy?
When Mabel decides to spy on Madame Badobedah she is discovered and an unlikely friendship ensues that changes both of their lives forever!
Room 32 becomes an oasis of imagination for Mabel and Madame Badobedah. Madame Badobedah and Mabel go on a pirate ship and Mabel is captain! They have some epic adventures. The friends explore the caverns of the Mermaid hotel and forge a friendship like no other. When Mabel learns more about Madame Badobedah’s life the story, the story evolves even more. Both parents and children alike will be intrigued.
We love Madame Badobedah
Mabel may be a girl who likes to keep on top of the comings and goings of her families Mermaid Hotel but she never knew that she would be forging a friendship she would remember for the rest of her life., Author Sophie Dahl creates a beautiful book about friendships between the young and young at heart, teaching both adults and children that you are never too old to learn something from another person, no matter how small and that you are never too old for an epic adventure.
Illustrator Lauren O’Hara captures the essence of this beautiful tale with her engaging and delightful pictures. This story has a magic to it where you and your child will be transported into the Mermaid Hotel, going alongside Mabel and Madame Badobedah and their imaginative adventures. O’Hara plays with the colors in the book and brings warm beachy whimsical feelings to the reader and Dahl takes us to a world that is as familiar and adventurous to us as parents, it brings back memories. For children, it creates them. Genius.
Extra Credit
Have your children draw their own hotel with all of the hidden doors and spaces that Mabel has in the Mermaid hotel. What does their Room 32 look like? Is their hotel by the sea or in the mountains? Is it summer or winter? What do the guests look like? Your child can decide.
Madame Badobedah is timeless, a book that your whole family will love and it gives two gifts to your children that are so precious: be curious of everything and you can make friends everywhere.
