THE BIRTHDAY PRESENTS

Rabbit and Hedgehog, very dissimilar friends, have found ways to share in the past (A Little Bit of Winter, not reviewed), and they charmingly do so again in their second appearance. Neither one of them knows the day of his birth, leaving them with no exact dates to celebrate. They resolve this problem by deciding to celebrate both birthdays the next day, complete with an exchange of presents at Hedgehog’s insistence. Now the friends have the joint problem of what to give each other, a puzzle they resolve: Hedgehog dips a bottle into the moonlight spilling over the lake to capture some for Rabbit’s dark burrow, and Rabbit packs a box of coziness in the form of earth and leaves from his burrow to soften Hedgehog’s bed in the wide open. Each is surprised to find his gift useful, although perhaps not in the exact way that was intended. The message, that barriers between friends can be overcome with a little thought, is delivered with warmth and humor in this gentle book’s perfectly complementary text and illustrations. (Picture book. 3-7)