A medium-grade rendition of the ugly duckling's triumph. At school the animals are giving a ""Baby in the Manger play"" and only Little Porcupine has no part. His spines would get in the way, the others say, and they make him stage crew and cleanup crew, taunting him with cries of ""Stick Ball! Stick Ball!"" But when the Mamas and Papas assemble for the play, they look in vain for the star in the sky. And so Little Porcupine, draped in tinsel, climbs to the top of the tree (""Above all the others"") and becomes ""a shiny spiny star."" It's predictable in outline, cute enough in the means to Little Porcupine's happy end, and spruced up a bit by the animals' perky, sleek-primitive look in Bond's spaced-out, crayon-like illustrations.