Quill the Forest Keeper

Around a stove, hedgehog grandchildren gather, reading cozily amid the smell of hot blueberry pie. “Grandpa, can you tell us the story about the Terrible Rush Era again?” one asks. Grandpa gladly acquiesces, recalling a time when “everything and everyone had to be higher, faster, further, bigger, prettier, more!” Tolman (Little Fox) fills a photographic image of a meadow with illustrated creatures: rhinoceroses moving pell-mell on their hind feet, a tapir and peacock running in the fray, a flock of red birds flying above. A lone hedgehog in an orange safety vest plods the other way: “Quill loved to feel the wind between his prickles. And warm sunbeams on his black nose.” Every day, the hedgehog cleans up the running animals’ trash, rendered as barely-there transparent shapes. At last, overwhelmed, he collapses and sleeps all winter. When he wakes, the fellow creatures have recognized his work and shared the burden—and they offer another surprise, too. It’s a story about the environment, but also about community, seeing that help is needed, and pitching in. The animal characters’ engaging expressiveness, their shy smiles and affectionate gestures, buoy this winsome story and give it warmth. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Luciënne van der Leije, Querido. (Aug.)