Hedgehog for Breakfast

by Ann Turner, Lisa McCue (Illustrator)

Misunderstanding follows misunderstanding with comical results as George and Charles think their father wants to eat Mrs. Hedgehog when he says he would like to have her for breakfast

Genres: Picture Books

Hardcover

First published October 1, 1989

About the author

Ann Turner, also known and published as Ann Warren Turner, is a children's author and a poet.
Ann Turner wrote her first story when she was eight years old. It was about a dragon and a dwarf named Puckity. She still uses that story when she talks to students about writing, to show them that they too have stories worth telling.
Turner has always loved to write, but at first she was afraid she couldn't make a living doing it. So she trained to be a teacher instead. After a year of teaching, however, she decided she would rather write books than talk about them in school.
Turner's first children's book was about vultures and was illustrated by her mother. She has written more than 40 books since then, most of them historical picture books. She likes to think of a character in a specific time and place in American history and then tell a story about that character so that readers today can know what it was like to live long ago.
Ann Turner says that stories choose her, rather than the other way around: "I often feel as if I am walking along quietly, minding my own business, when a story creeps up behind me and taps me on the shoulder. 'Tell me, show me, write me!' it whispers in my ear. And if I don't tell that story, it wakes me up in the morning, shakes me out of my favorite afternoon nap, and insists upon being told."

(from: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai...)

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ha ha... ha?

The concept of this book hinges on the semantic ambiguity of the phrase "have so-and-so for [dinner/lunch/breakfast]. Does the fox paterfamilias want to eat his neighbor, or just have her over? His children assume the former and obediently, but rather reluctantly, go to deliver the invitation and bring back the guest of honor.

I see how and why this is intended to be humorous, but for me it missed. The tone is off. The fox children's unease with the situation and the anthropomorphic nature of the animals make it not work. The characters are too human in their clothing and their politeness. The brothers' whispered worries regarding manners ("should we offer her our arms?") and Mrs. Hedgehog's hesitation about removing her clothes to "bathe" in the boiling pot cancel out the naturalness of predators-eat-prey and make the situation disturbing rather than silly.

Lisa McCue's illustrations were cute if a little generic.

[Lisa Macklem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations. Story is some fun misdirection, misunderstanding by the children - but a bit disturbing if you like hedgehogs! LOL!

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lisa McCue should be co-credited as author, since she provided the art. This is a mildly amusing take on the very old story of the cunning fox trying to trick an animal into becoming a meal (think anything from Chaucer's "Nun's Priest's Tale" to--more directly relevant in this context, perhaps--Beatrix Potter's Tale of Jemima Puddleduck). Mr Fox says he wants Mrs Hedgehog for breakfast, so he and his wife send their sons to fetch her. Naturally (literally) they interpret their father's words as meaning he wants to eat her as breakfast rather than to have her as a guest for breakfast. This leads to a mildly amusing sequence in which the kits try to boil, roast, and bake Mrs Hedgehog, without success, and with her interpreting their efforts as kind offers--to take a bath, to dry off. Fortunately, the fox parents return with a bouquet of flowers before their enterprising youngsters manage actually to cook their guest. This is a kinder, gentler version of the usual predator-prey relations story involving anthropomorphic animals and should be credited for its play with the convention. Otherwise, though, it is not exceptional. McCue's art is cute without being syrupy, bit it lacks the accomplishment of the top rank of children's book artists. Turner's story is amusing but, beyond its twist, unexceptional. One might read some commentary on the implications of parental authority given the kits' unquestioning willingness to murder their neighbour just because their father expressed himself poorly (a sort of Abraham/Isaac moment, albeit very much transformed, I suppose), but that might be stretching things.

[wildct2003 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story of a misunderstanding