Betty and the Mysterious Visitor
Anne Twist and Emily Sutton
Walker Books

Every summer Betty visits her grandma in the village of Wobbly Bottom. She loves spending time in the Acorn Hollows, the garden shared by all the residents of Grandma’s terrace. There she delights in the abundance of flora and fauna; there too her gran cultivates various fruits and Betty helps her pick them, make jam and sell it in the local market.

Full of eager anticipation Betty wakes on market day only to discover that overnight the garden has become a muddy mess. However there’s no time to investigate properly before they leave for the market. 

There it’s full of people buying and selling and come teatime all grandma’s jam has been sold so they head home with Betty determined to find out how the Hollows was spoiled.

She watches through the window that night and in the moonlight she spots a large creature thrusting its nose under the fence but in a trice it’s gone.

The following morning Betty’s Grandma says it was probably a badger and that it’s likely to return. Sure enough, over the next few nights the badger comes back, wreaking havoc in the garden. Supposing it gets into Gran’s fruit cage? Time to get working on a creative solution, thinks Betty and she puts together a frightening monster, then lays a trail towards it. 

Wide awake that night, Betty watches and in comes the badger. However, such is the effect of a sudden wind on the monster, that the intruder hastily departs but not before, so Betty thinks, looking directly at her, as if saying farewell.

Grandma is pleased to hear her granddaughter’s account next morning and together the two sit beneath the trees and celebrate with hot chocolate.

Author, Anne Twist’s inspiration for this, her debut picture book, was her own country garden and what a lovely celebration of the natural world it is. It’s also a beautiful celebration of intergenerational love. How brilliantly Emily Sutton’s jewel-like illustrations bring the world of Wobbly Bottom to life; each re-reading will likely reveal fresh details to savour.