One Winter's Day

This is a great book. I gave it to my grandchildren for Christmas. They (3 yrs & 18 months) both enjoy the story and the bright, colorful pictures. It has a moral in that if you do good things for others, in return, they will do good things for you. It is a lovely book for one and all.

Editorial Reviews From School Library Journal PreSchool-Grade 1-When Little Hedgehog's nest blows away in a snowstorm, he retrieves his hat, scarf, and mittens and makes his way to his friend Badger's house. Along the way, he meets shivering field mice, an otter, and a doe and her fawn. He generously passes along his garments to these creatures and weathers the storm, safe and warm, with Badger. When the skies clear, the two of them make their way to the spot where Little Hedgehog's nest used to be and find a newly rebuilt, cozy house decorated with his winter accessories. The illustrations of the red and orange winter woolens have a feltlike fabric embedded in them to give readers a tactile experience. Macnaughton's soft and gentle full-page and inset pictures hold their own without this gimmick, complementing Butler's simple, sweet, and subtly didactic text.-Rachel G. Payne, Brooklyn Public Library, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

There i was today, innocently walking past the picture book display when this adorable little hedgehog (an animal i have always wanted to adopt by the by, unfortunately the cats will not allow me to do so) unavoidably beckons to me from the cover of One Winter's Day (a touch and feel book) by M. Christina Butler and illustrated by Tina Macnaughton. This is an incredibly cute book as the little hedgehog makes his way through the woods once the wind blows his nest away, playing good Samaritan to every poor little creature he meets. Of course their is a moral (well not really a moral~but it does show that being kind and sweet and selfless and all that will reward you with good karma~maybe saying that life is fair even when we all know that it really isn't) at the end and again i question the wisdom of over-adorableness of wild animals in tales for children but this one just wins over that "awe" factor in me (and tells that cynic to go sulk in the corner for a while). What can i say?

It's a very sweet story of selflessness. My daughter loves the touch and feel of the hat, mittens and scarf. It's one of the ones I enjoy reading over and over.