More than twenty years after introducing the world to Paddington Bear, Michael Bond published his eleventh story collection - "Paddington Takes the Test." Paddington lives with the Brown family in London, where his curiosity routinely gets him into and out of trouble.

The test of the title refers to a driving test in the book's first story. A case of mistaken identity leads a civil servant to take the talking bear on a driving test, which ends in a harrowing cruise through London.

Similar cases of misunderstanding occur throughout the seven stories, such as when the bear thought that Wellington boots were an ingredient in Beef Wellington.

Paddington's selfish neighbor, Mr. Curry, is featured heavily in these stories. Mr. Curry invites himself into the family's new sauna but gets locked inside; Curry tricks Paddington into ironing a fancy shirt with predictably disastrous results; and Curry gets Paddington to try out a hammock picked from the trash.

Michael Bond continued to delight readers into his third decade of stories about his most famous creation. After publishing this book, the author set aside writing short stories about Paddington for another twenty years. This volume was a good note on which to break.