A Cheesy Brie-ginning
In the middle of a forest, a yellow bear pops out of a bush. It’s the heroic, and aptly-named, Pillow, here to do battle with the dragon in the cave, earn badges, and save the villagers’ cheese! However, this particular dragon turns out to be much smaller than expected and introduces themselves as Fae. Pillow slays them with a joke and the two set out to find the real cheese-stealing culprit. Their journey will lead them into lots of cheesy adventures (and cheese puns) and frequent appearances of Badger the Badger, popping up to deliver badges to Pillow.
The book ends with some simple activities and badges for kids to earn, from collecting leaves to a stakeout badge in your own kitchen. Stickers are included for each of the badges – the page with stickers is not perforated, but could be removed or laminated in a library setting.
Pillow the bear is a lumpy yellow shape with small ears and a lighter patch on their belly and around their mouth. Fae changes shape, but is generally small and pink with a blue bow on their head. As a dragon, they have an adorable little snout and their “real” shape looks like a cartoon cat. Pillow makes lots of dramatic faces and their simple body shape only changes slightly as they move. Only Badger, a small blue torso that pops out of the ground wearing themed headgear, has faint fingers on his stubby blue arms. Most of the story is dialogue between Pillow and Fae, with lightly-sketched backgrounds. They move from the outdoors to the village at night, shown by the background turning a deep violet, and then during the day they are in an outdoor setting again with a light blue and green wash of colors behind them.
The story is short and simple, with lots of silliness. Pillow resolves their battle with the real cheese thieves by being nice (and gets a conflict-resolution badge) and the story ends with more adventures in store as they travel to Fae’s home world. However, with all the puns the text is a little more challenging than the average easy reader and the font is definitely smaller than is usually used for a beginning reader. This is what I’d call a transitional chapter book – not long or complex enough to be considered a middle grade book, but not as short or easy enough for an easy reader. Libraries that don’t have sections specifically for transitional chapters will probably want to put this with easy readers though, since the layout of the book fits that section best.
Kids who enjoy light and simple stories like Taco & Pizza or Bug Scouts will find this a fun choice and even older kids will enjoy the goofy humor and cheese puns. A fun addition to most public and school library collections.
Badge Quest Vol. 1: A Cheesy Brie-ginning
By Guy Kopsombut
Andrews McMeel, 2025
ISBN: 9781524892302
Company Age Rating: Ages 6-9
NFNT Age Recommendation: Easy Readers (5-9)
