This picture book is a spin on the Talmudic tale in which a selfish man throws stones from his own property onto a communal road. A hedgehog with a perky, turned-up snout has built a dirt mound that is blocking his neighbors’ path. When Rabbi and Mouse complain, he retorts that it is his house, that he likes it just that way. Then, when his earthen home washes away after a three-day downpour and he himself is floundering in the mud, he cries out to them for help. His neighbors not only hold out a branch to rescue him, but, to his surprise, Mouse even invites Hedgehog over to dry off inside. At the end of the book, Hedgehog plants flowers along the path they all share.
With short, rhyming stanzas and lively dialogue, the book will appeal to younger children. The colorful, double-spread illustrations offer breezily drawn details for children to notice, such as partially unpacked boxes inside Hedgehog’s cozy burrow and many insects and birds in the outdoor scenes. However, the occasional lack of continuity between the illustrations can be confusing. For example, one spread shows a single house; the next has two against the same background of hills.
All in all, this is a cute book that will teach readers about sharing our planet with each other.
Sharon Elswit, author of The Jewish Story Finder and a school librarian for forty years in NYC, now resides in San Francisco, where she shares tales aloud in a local JCC preschool and volunteers with 826 Valencia to help students write their own stories and poems.
