HEDGEHOG!

Winter is closing in, and one selfish soul is not opening his door to those in need of shelter.

In a very timely story about sanctuary, a hedgehog with a significant piece of hedgescape is unwilling to share his acreage with others looking for protection against winter’s icy blasts. The bees and the ladybugs are sharing the hive (depicted inaccurately as a wasps’ nest); the birds and the squirrels are sharing the tree; and even the unlikely pairing of the fox and the possum are sharing a burrow (though maybe the fox has ulterior motives not mentioned here). But all those who ask the hedgehog to share his grand greenery get the bum’s rush: “No! This is MY hedge.” Indeed, so many come to ask for a little space and the hedgehog has to slam the door so many times that the last slam crumbles the hedgehog’s hedge abode to pieces. Now who has to go begging? Fortunately the other creatures—drawn in fine, emotive cartoon mode by Anstee—are blessed with a natural decency that offers not only sanctuary, but a great array of diversity, from grasshoppers to bunnies to, yup, a hedgehog. A bit obvious in its message, but in these ham-handed times, very au courant.

An easily applicable allegory full of dreamy bigheartedness.