DEAREST PRICKLES: The Story of a Hedgehog Family

This is an account by a German couple who became inordinately attached to a trio of orphaned hedgehogs. Interspersed among diary reports on the tiny ones' progress (one died -- later a small female wandered by to fill the gap) the Poduschkas supply bits of scientific minutiae, random lore and discuss matters like diet and cyclical behavior. But it's mainly a doting recall -- Spotty so full of food he can't scratch; Bennie coming out of hibernation for her first mealworm; Snowy charging a broom. Gives one a faint Tiggywinkle headache, but most of the photographs are curiously unsentimental though enchanting -- like the panda, the hedgehog has exceptionally photogenic contours. One perusal and you probably won't boot another from the woodshed.