Hedgehugs

The husband-and-wife team of Wilson and Tapper introduces Horace and Hattie, hedgehogs who are “the very best of friends” but can’t figure out how to hug each other. It’s a familiar picture book conceit, though the collaborators do include at least one novel element—after having no success using snow (“too cold”), logs (“too bumpy”), strawberries (“too sticky”), and leaves (“too scratchy”) to buffer their quills, wearing spare socks like onesies does the trick. “So the next time... one of your socks goes missing, you know what it means,” write the authors, solving one of life’s great mysteries. Ages 4–8. (Dec.)