A rhyming book. Pete wants everything to be neat and tidy at all times, but what starts as the collecting of one fallen leaf escalates quickly and ends with the complete destruction of the forest.

Emily Gravett does the best illustrations. Pete the badger is a serious tidier and none of the other forest animals managed to stop him from leveraging his tidiness into paving over the entire forest. They did all start eyeing him warily when he started collecting all the leaves, and looked real concerned when he started uprooting all the trees, and by the time the concrete arrived I guess they felt there was nothing they could do because they'd been silent the whole time. They were all happy to help Pete put the forest back to normal after he realized he'd made a mistake, but no one spoke out against his actions while multiple mistakes were being made. They all knew there was a problem, but they said nothing! How does Pete have so much power? Does he have a brute squad somewhere that keeps these animals living in fear? Even at the beginning the birds seemed quite happy to have their beaks brushed by Pete, but the fox always looked nervous. Was Pete democratically elected the leader of the forest and now the people aren't sure how to deal with the consequences of the Make The Forest Great Again campaign? Or are they all deferring to him because he has a mental illness and they're scared to scold him? Is Pete Charlie X?? Are the animals all afraid that if they make him angry he'll disappear them with his mind? Did all the animals just move on to another forest while theirs was paved, or were they also huddled in abandoned construction equipment, waiting for Pete to come to his senses? What if he never did? Would the animals have just died on the concrete, thinking about how there was nothing they could do? OR MAYBE Pete is the only animal who has gained some kind of sentience and the other animals just go along with him because they aren't capable of making conscious choices. Maybe they're just looking worriedly at everything Pete's doing because they can sense something is wrong, this is not how the forest is supposed to be, but they can't break out of their compulsion to follow the leader. ( )

Top 100 Favorite because:

A delightfully refreshing book by Emily Gravett, from the moment you look at the book with its die-cut front cover, to the end with a humorous request on the back from the Badger. Gravett uses rhymes to tell the story and it is easy to read in your head or aloud with a rhythmic cadence. The message about environmental conservation and protection is well done with utilizing a cleaning fiend to show how to care care of the forest, how concrete and cutting down trees are hurting it. A well done book that is satisfying from front to back. And an animal I could use in my own home to help with the mess. ( )

The story of Pete, the badger that kept everything neat.

Fabulous rhyming text; delightful illustrations. Fun, fun, fun.
Let's all be a little messier. ( )