Hedgie's Surprise

By Jan Brett

Part of the Hedgie series

A mischievous creature steals eggs until a prickly surprise changes everything.

5.1/7 Bookroo experts·4.0/5 Goodreads · 1,638 ratings

32 pages· 833 words· Est. 7 min read-aloud

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Bookroo's summary

In a quaint Danish setting, a mischievous Tomten tires of porridge and starts stealing Henny's eggs. Desperate to protect her future chicks, Henny enlists Hedgie, a clever hedgehog, to outsmart the thief. As the Tomten reaches for his morning treat, he encounters a prickly surprise that sends him running back to his porridge. Will Henny finally have her brood of chicks? Discover the delightful twists in this charming tale.

From the publisher

Jan Brett’s beloved character Hedgie stars in this charming story about a little Tomten who gets tired of porridge for breakfast and starts stealing Henny’s eggs. But Henny wants a brood of chicks and she needs her eggs. With the help of clever Hedgie, she substitutes an acorn, a strawberry, a mushroom and finally a potato in her nest. But nothing stops that Tomten until the little hedgehog hides in Henny’s nest: when the Tomten reaches in to get his morning treat, all he gets is a handful of prickles. He runs home for porridge and never comes back again! Intricate needlepoint patterns of Scandinavian designs frame the characters reacting from the borders in this beautiful picture book set in Denmark.

At a glance

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 32
Words: 833
Reading age: 4–8
Audience: Picture
Lexile: AD670L

Themes & topics

Books about chickens Books about animals Books about hedgehogs Books about eggs Books about social themes

What readers & critics say

Reviews

5.1

out of 7

5.3

“At our house, we like Jan Brett books and have acquired many of them. She tells a great story and the illustrations are exquisite. This one plays a little loose with the timeline for eggs hatching into chicks, but there are so many other things going on the time element is easy to overlook. There is the unlikely friendship between the hen and Hedgie, some egg-cellent problem solving, eggs being eaten and hatching into chicks, the Tomten eating lots of different foods, and the little trickster being tricked.”

Grammy

Trusted reviewer

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