The Hedgehog's Haircut

Hodge, a small hedgehog with a soft tan face and warm brown spines, lives in a cozy burrow beneath an old oak tree. Each morning he watches the other meadow animals and wishes he could look as stylish as they do. When his best friend Ribbon, a tall rabbit in a sky blue apron, appears with a tiny red bow behind one ear, Hodge decides a haircut is the answer. Ignoring Ribbon's gentle warning that hedgehogs do not usually get haircuts, he marches into the meadow and snips at his own spines until they are stubby and uneven.

The result is not the fashionable look he imagined. Hodge's cheeks burn with embarrassment as the other animals stare, and he curls up in his burrow wishing he had never cut his spines. Ribbon finds him there and offers a different idea: instead of changing his spines, they can celebrate them. With her sewing kit and colourful fabric scraps, she makes hats with a special opening at the back so Hodge's spines can poke through. This gentle picture-book story by Ebru Mina TOMURCUK follows Hodge through a mistake, a moment of shame and a quiet discovery about self-acceptance. Young children will recognise his wish to look like everyone else and learn alongside him that confidence comes from accepting yourself, spines and all. The tale can be read on Onlinemasal Com.Tr.