HEDGEHUGS AND THE HATTIEPILLAR

Hedgehog best friends Horace and Hattie are back, this time marveling at the wonder that is metamorphosis.

As in their first outing, this book begins by introducing the two friends, sharing what they like to do together as well as apart. One day, the two find something “small and shiny and smooth” under a leaf. They are lucky enough to witness the caterpillar hatching from this egg (“egg,” “caterpillar,” “chrysalis,” “butterfly,” and “metamorphosis” are never used in the text). The “wriggly, stripy thing” starts to eat, and it eats and eats and eats and gets bigger, until one day “it made a soft, silky bed, and there it slept for many days and many nights.” The two then spy the cocoon opening; “something beautiful, colorful, and wonderful” crawls out and then flutters away. Taken with this process, Horace and Hattie decide to try it themselves. They eat and eat and eat, then pile flowers in a heap and crawl in to sleep. They emerge transformed and colorful, the petals stuck to their spines, and they can even fly…on their swings. The duo are delightfully naïve and filled with wonder and imagination. Tapper’s textured, digital illustrations have lots of details that will provoke smiles, as when Horace angrily points his finger in a “go away” gesture at a hungry bird, protecting the caterpillar.

A delightful way to share metamorphosis with the littlest listeners.