This book was so much fun to read, the illustrations were great and it was so funny I laughed out loud on several occasions. if not for every page. I loved it.

In a word, mixed. The drawing/artwork is appropriate in style and fits the intention of the book. Plenty of good and funny pages, unfortunately also many which are pointless and unfunny. Adult in language, though that is not the issue - some pages are very funny, some pages are simply a character swearing, with no joke and no point.

I requested this to see what it was like in advance of publication, and will stock as there is enough good work there that some will buy and enjoy it.

If you like your books very sweary (I do!), hilariously funny (I do!) and snarky to the nth degree (yep!) then look no further!! This book has it all!

A parody of the extremely successful The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse ( which I adored!), this is the sarcastic version!! If you ever get sick of the sometimes patronising 'do your best', 'be kind' way of the world, then this is the book that gives you it straight! Sometimes you don't want to be nice! Or kind!! Just foul mouthed and left alone!! And this book does that brilliantly with the wonderful characters that inhabit the world of the author! I have a sweary teddy at home too!!

It's brilliantly illustrated, a quote on every page that had me in stitches and crying with laughter and I would love to have some of these 'inspirational' quotes on posters around the house! Or on T-shirts!! Bring on the merch!! Loved it!! Funniest book of 2021!!

Panda and Cat are sick & tired of smug Teddy & his cheerful tripe and you will be too in this chucklesome novelty book that is going to be flying off the shelves this Christmas.

As a fan of the charming book that Magrs that is cheekily parodying, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this, but the fabulous illustration on the cover immediately drew me in. I was won over straight away with the contrast of the childish doodles and the grown up content that blended perfectly. It’s delightfully uncouth and I loved it.

Release your inner Malcolm Tucker with Panda!

This book is brilliant. I love The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse and this parody is hilarious. Be warned, it is not suitable for children and definitely isn't for you if you can't tolerate swearing, but it's brilliant and I will definitely be buying copies to give as Christmas presents to the friends I know will enjoy it as much as I have.

This was a nice parody, I really like The Boy, the mole .. etc and Charlie Mackesy’s work , I really love Paul Magrs too although this is a diversion from the usual work I’ve read by him. It was good fun, tongue in cheek, I get a lot may not be fans of Charlie’s work, but I guess Paul must be to create a parody the fact that Teddy clearly is a fan, but Panda represents a lot of non-fans, there’s room for both in this world and my moods flip from day to day, some days I’m Panda, some days I’m Teddy and others I’m cat, regardless this is funny and will be a great gift to people you know who may have been adverse to the positivity to try and support people through bad times, or even to fans like me who adored it but will love the parody too because we have a sense of humour and don’t take it too seriously, bet Charlie loves it too. Overall, a funny book, cute illustrations and I still love Paul Magrs work

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This book was differently not what I expected but I loved. It made me laugh brought tears to my eyes with all the giggles. This is a parody to the boy, mole and the horse. There is lot of swearing in the book and I would not recommend child reading this book. The illustrations are really good. My favourite character was the cat. I do think this book will get mixed reviews but I enjoyed this book it cheered me up. Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book.

A perfect Christmas gift for the horrible cynics in your life. Charming illustrations undercut by the bitterness of the Panda. The cat is more an observer than anything else. Teddy is an optimist who loves inspirational quotes. Extraordinary.

What can I write about this book? A complete departure from the previous books that I have read by Paul Magrs, and what a departure!

The language is a little too blue for younger readers, so hopefully the marketing will reflect this, however, for the cynical adults out there that are a little tired of the current world of self-help and mindfulness books out there, this is the perfect antidote.

I really want to live in a world where Panda, Cat and Teddy are, as I think I would want them to be my new best friends.

This book will be going everywhere with me in future

There are two types of people, I think (maybe three with ones who are uninterested in the whole phenomenon): the people who love the feel-good and supportive vibe of books like "The Boy, the Mole ..." and people who maybe even don't mind the book at all in itself and fair play to the author but images of it get bandied about an inserted into every conversation and there's just relentless positivity around it all. The Dreadful Teddy is one of the first group. The Panda (and I) are in the second group. I'd say I was more the Cat, but I lack the requisite flexibility to do what the Cat does ...

So yes, it's a parody, yes, it's sweary, but it's also a refreshing breath of fresh air for people who sigh when they get a relentlessly positive meme thrust at them for the nth time. it's very, very funny. The drawings are excellent and full of life and character, and I quite like the fact that the characters remain themselves rather than growing and changing - because don't many of us do that really anyway?

This book was an absolute disappointment unfortunately.

I was really curious to see how the author would go about writing a parody to 'The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse' by Charlie Mackesy, but it sort of missed the mark..

I found the excessive swearing to be pretty unnecessary, and the only thing that I could take away from the book, in the end, was that the Panda hated Teddy bear and any kind of self-help quotes.

Whilst there were a few humourous scenes sprinkled in, the rest of the story consisted of the Panda telling the Teddy bear to "f*ck off" and I honestly felt like the writing & artwork could have been improved upon.


— Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for providing the eARC in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Have any of you read The Boy, the Mole, the Fox & the Horse before?

If you liked that one, this is a parody of that book, but definitely not for small ears.

Absolutely bloody genius, guaranteed to put a smile on your face, with a few well placed sniggers.

The illustrations were hilarious & I've found myself a new favourite book!

And as the last page of the book says "You can fuck off now" 😂

Many thanks to Netgalley for my ARC in return for my honest review.

𝗜 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 5 ⭐ 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴

Teddy is pompous twat, who needs his head flushed down the loo to teach him a lesson.
I'm with Panda on this one. Getting drunk, and watching crap tv is definitely better than mindfulness colouring in, or positive thoughts.
This book is definitely make the author a millionaire, it's hilarious, and inspirational for those of us Pandas who have to put up with the Teddy's in our lives

I feel like the author tried way too hard with this book. He tried to make it something that it's not. The intention to be a parody on The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse failed miserably and instead it became a story filled with hate, fat shaming and a lot of foul language. No, this book doesn't do it for me or anyone I know.

The perfect antidote to all those nauseating, touchy-feely, sanctimonious, patronising, "be excellent to yourself and each other" wastes of paper.

Utterly, hysterically brilliant.

Be More Panda.

I feel as though this book intended to be a parody of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, but fell short in the execution. Instead of humorous pithy 1 liners, the book was basically the author having an expletive filled rant about someone he hates, disguised in the book as a teddy. The publisher had offered some quotes from the book in the blurb, and these are what attracted me to the book, yet they weren't at all representative of the content of the book, and I feel they may have just chosen the only quotes in the book to not be filled with the F word. I can't recommend as other than the art work, there was nothing to recommend about this book

Bringing the word "bell-end" back into the best-seller charts, this book is definitely and with full throttle taking the mickey out of some hippy-dippy-shitty self-help book concerning animals (whose name escapes me) - you know, the "Jonathan Livingstone Seagull" for people who can barely read. Here we have Panda, whose neckwear could only look more like a cock and balls if it had pubes growing out of it, loathing pretty much everything and everyone, especially the eternally 'up' Teddy and the gullible Cat (rhymes with...).

OK, so laughs were not too common here – the aforementioned swear-word (one of my favourite descriptives) and Panda's response to being a foundation to a kind of Musicians of Bremen-styled tower of hope. But the point is this really is a blunt object being used to object against a weak target. "Dream it. Do it. Wish it!", said Teddy. "F**k it," said Panda. It's not subtle, and I guess that's in response to the sheer tweeness of Whatever-it-is and the Horse. For yes, my memory returns through the fog of dark gift-book whimsicality.

Of course, Dooflidonk and the Pony might have a thousand shades of colour, and everything, in amongst its poor hand-made lettering and primary school art (as repeated on these pages). That said, its puff quotes are written by Miranda Bloody Hart and the author of "Eat, Pray, Love, Vomit". So I doubt it's a book for me. But if you love that kind of thing, you hate this kind of thing, and if you hate that kind of thing you're either barely aware of it, or smart enough to see this as very much a one-pass novelty. "Yup... m-hmm... yes... titter... yup..." ad infinitum is about the best reaction it will get, with the "is this it?!" coming any time long before the end.

This is very roughly-made, for a reason, but still could have had a semi-narrative placed upon it, with Teddy being successful and Cat seeming to change out of nowhere towards the end. If there is a Waterstone's chart for naff-throwaways-for-the-Xmas-season this will get close to topping it. But they're call naff throwaways for a reason.

I got this book because I saw it as a parody to The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (one of my all time favourite cute books) and I was incredibly curious. I wanted to see how witty the jokes would be and have a little laugh about it.

Unfortunately, I am a little disappointed. Some of the jokes (like the ones mentioned in the general description of the book) are quite funny. But the majority of the pages have similar messages and are not witty. The Panda has multiple jokes about gin and asking Teddy to "f***k off", which was not really funny but just a bit repetitive.

The only thing that saved it a little for me were the drawings. I found myself laugh a bit at how the drawings are also part of the parody and that was great. I think that the author managed to get this part quite funny. I could see full scenes from The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse play in front of me, but with little changes and quite funny.

Ostensibly written by the bad-tempered and extravagantly profane Panda, with help from the nicer, easygoing Cat and the ever-cheerful Teddy who is very fond of inspirational quotes, (much to Panda’s annoyance), “The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy” by Paul Magrs is a rough, anarchic picture-book which is hilarious and quietly wonderful.
Each drawing is a chapter in their life and has a caption which is usually witty, often rude, sometimes meaningful. Together the friends go on walks and enjoy picnics, while Teddy spreads joy, Panda drinks gin, and Cat does what cats do best - lying around and licking his privates. Teddy’s philosophy is lost on Panda, but Teddy is unflappable.
If I had to describe this book in a hilariously pithy way that would look great on the back of the book, I would say it’s like the alcoholic lovechild of Viz Comic and Winnie the Pooh. There are a lot of rude words and a swearing Panda and I loved it. (P. S. Very much not for children)

The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy by Paul Magrs was such a disappointment. The publisher offered these quotes from the book:
‘Just because you’re struggling, it doesn’t mean you’re failing… But it might do.’
‘Nothing beats kindness,’ said the cat. ‘Gin does’, said Panda.
‘If you don’t stop saying inspirational things to me, I’m going to punch you up the hooter.’

They made me snigger. Although I loved Charlie Mackesy’s wonderful book, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, I’m not averse to enjoying a witty parody of it and then buying copies to give as Christmas presents to all the people that received the original. However, The Panda etc. isn’t witty. The obscenities (one page has twelve) ensure that I won’t be buying it for any children and also mean that I would have to be very careful in my choice of recipients. So careful, in fact, that I can’t think of anyone I know who would actually enjoy it.

The drawings are poor. Mackesy’s drawings may be simple but they are extremely well done. Some of Magrs’ drawings echo Mackesy’s designs but are much cruder in execution. Looking at his website, I assume that’s simply Magrs’ style, but it might be part of the parodic intention.

Some of the text – like the lines I quoted above – are funny. However, many aren’t, e.g. ‘Mostly I’m telling everyone who annoys me to go and f*** themselves.’ That’s not funny; it’s not witty; it’s simply the artist’s anger boiling over and venting via words on the page.

No, this book’s not for me or anyone I know.

#pandacatdreadfulteddy