Not in the Mood

Sometimes you just wake up… and you’re not in the mood. You can’t say why, you can’t make it go away. It’s just there. Hedgehog knows that feeling all too well.

When his friends come knocking with suggestions — dancing! dress-up! fishing! sky-diving! — Hedgehog isn’t having any of it. And while the activities become increasingly wild, what’s truly lovely is that Hollis understands the power of saying no, of honouring those days when you’re simply not ready to join in.

Fresh from his Klaus Flugge Prize win for Pierre’s New Hair, Hollis once again proves highly adept at combining emotional depth with light, accessible humour. His crisp, comic-inspired visual style — bold lines, sharp colour, expressive characters (frog is my favourite) — is perfectly tuned to the story’s shifting moods. Hollis also makes exceptional use of space: as Hedgehog’s friends pile in with ever-more suggestions, the spreads grow increasingly crowded, visually echoing the emotional overwhelm. By the time Hedgehog finally shouts I’m NOT in the MOOD! — in a dramatic burst of red — the reader fully understands the release this moment brings.

Throughout, the visual metaphor of the grey mood-cloud provides young readers with a gentle language for feelings they can’t always name. And in the end, it is empathy, not explanation, that helps. Hedgehog’s friends simply sit with him, recognising that sometimes feelings don’t need fixing — they just need space to be felt.

A quietly powerful exploration of emotional identity, boundaries, and the wisdom of simply embracing how we feel. A gently affirming read for young and old alike — a wise companion for the days when you just aren’t.