Beaver Pond — Paul Harbridge

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been making headlines around the world for years. Just as newsworthy has been the obsession of citizens and the media with his notoriety. Award winning Toronto author Paul Harbridge takes the frenzy at City Hall as the starting point for his satirical story.

Evocative of George Orwell's Animal Farm, Beaver Pond is the darkly humorous tale of an abrasive porcupine named Rock who, accompanied by his brother Digger, takes over the leadership of a hapless beaver colony, thoroughly rattling the establishment before succumbing to his own prickly demons. Shortly after being named Grand Rodent by the High Council of Beavers, a rumour starts to circulate that Rock has been spotted down at Cranberry Corners, the nefarious hangout of losers and ne'er-do-wells. (Everyone knows the scandalous effect ripe cranberries have on rodents!) Rock disrupts the lives of the good citizens of the Big Flood, including cultural maven Margaret Eatwood and adolescent troublemaker Dustin Beaver, and even tries to cancel the flying squirrels' annual Glide Parade. The tension between the anti- and pro-porcupine camps is only heightened by the dark jokes made every evening down at the river bank by that irascible scamp Jimmy Otter. The aim of the book is not to judge but to take a humorous look at how we all reacted to someone who disturbed our complacency.