The Night of the Hedgehog

Gr 1-3–A young girl and her father have an unforgettable experience one evening, as they watch for and then see a mother hedgehog and her three babies emerge from the hedges. The girl’s father learned about the hedgehogs’ arrival in the past. Now he awakens his daughter to join him and share the experience. The story is told using descriptive sentences that rhyme and illustrations that show the setting and events with engaging and unexpected detail. In one notable example of how the words and illustrations complement one another seamlessly, the father holds a flashlight and spies a hedgehog emerging from the bushes; “THE HEDGEHOG, it came on a warm, dry night./ My papa, he saw it, with the old flashlight.” Beneath of words is an illustration of the girl in her bed, with her eyes opened. All around there are signs of hedgehogs; she is holding a stuffed toy hedgehog, other toy hedgehogs are on her windowsill, etc. Throughout the book are many other examples of the loving relationship between father and daughter. And while the story ends when the hedgehogs take a wooden path the two built for them and disappear from view, readers know that the impact of this special time together is long-lasting.