The Night of the Hedgehog

From previous collaborators Rosie and Groenink (Mum, Me, and the Mulberry Tree) comes this splendid nighttime adventure, whose rhyming text and cool, muted hues convey hushed wonder. After a father awakens his child to venture into their moonlit walled garden, the practiced observers prove wonderfully aware of their surroundings—the young narrator notices “glowing trails/ made by some slimy, adventuring snails” and sees that the rabbits in their outdoor hutch “for once, didn’t hop, didn’t stir,/ just huddled together, soft fur upon fur.” The humans put out a bowl of water, and two tiny, cautious eyes and a snout emerge from the leafy bushes—it’s a mama hedgehog, who leads her three adorably spiny babies in for a drink. When they depart through a hole in the garden wall carved for just this purpose, father and child savor the magic: “Papa lifted me high,/ and we were simply content/ to be in that place/ where the hogs came and went.” Two final spreads reveal that the entire neighborhood hosts a nocturnal animalian community, offering a gentle reminder of the world’s many habitats. Ages 3–7. (Nov.)