Our Current Read Aloud

I am currently reading A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, a couple of pages at a time, to my three-year-old. The movie comes out in January in the United States, and the trailer looks like it might actually be as sweet as the book.

If you haven't read the book (it's surprisingly not on many reading lists), it is about a bear from Peru. And because I find this an interesting fact, I'm sharing it with you: there is only one kind of bear native to South America -

The spectacled bear (Wikipedia user Cburnett)

Paddington is found by Mr. and Mrs. Brown in Paddington Station. He is all alone, a stowaway from Darkest Peru, in the station with not much more than a hat and a jar of marmalade. And he's so polite.

But he also makes some messes. At the station's buffet, he has an accident involving tea and buns, and gets jam and cream all over his fur. Then, while taking a bath (to wash off the jam and cream), he doesn't know how to turn off the water, so the tub overflows. The tub is too slippery for him to get out and, thinking he is going to drown, Paddington uses his hat to bale out water.

I wonder if Michael Bond based Paddington on a three-year-old?