The Hodgeheg

This seems to be a good month for stories aimed at the young fluent reader. This witty and original story is exactly right for seven to eight-year-olds with a sense of humour and a liking for unusual situations. Max is a young hedgehog determined to solve the hedgehogs' greatest problem - how to cross the road safely. He has many setbacks, including being knocked senseless by a cyclist resulting in a bad attack of scrambled speech (hence the Hodgeheg), before finally discovering the perfect solution. The story is, as you would expect from Dick King-Smith, very funny and yet he manages to maintain the animal-ness of his characters throughout their unlikely adventures. They are not humans in disguise, nor are they twee or patronised. We enjoyed this very much as a read-aloud story and it has been borrowed by the children ever since.