I was introduced to Paddington - innocent, improbable Paddington - in college, when my assigned roommate turned out to be a huge fan. When she hit a bump in the road, I wrote to Michael Bond c/o his publishers, asking if there was any chance he could send her a note of encouragement (with all that hope you have in college) - and he sent her a personal note, as well as a response to me. It was such a kindness, which meant a great deal to my roommate and said so much about the man who could write about this little bear.
In "Paddington Takes the Air," Paddington encounters what seem to be the usual, yet improbable, adventures that just haunt him and turn the Brown family and London upside-down. As a bear who found a home with a loving British family after traveling from Darkest Peru, it's not easy to adapt to the ways of civilization, and in a big city like London at that. The most basic things - losing a tooth, for example - are huge events for him, and result in upheaval for all around him.
And sometimes he takes up hobbies - like sewing - that result in enormous disasters; even if things start out well, they just don't seem to end as expected - for Paddington or anyone else involved. And Paddington's favorite marmalade sandwiches have a way of turning up in the oddest places.
Bond published some 29 books about Paddington, most made up of chapters that are really short stories of the intrepid bear's adventures. I may never get to them all, but I won't stop trying. They're delightful stories for the very young (who can follow a story of more than five pages) or the very old who enjoy anthropomorphic animals interacting with humans, not growing up, and general innocence.
If you get to the real Paddington Station, from which Paddington selected his name, there's a statue there of the bear. It's traditional to leave a (fresh and firmly sealed) jar of marmalade.