Darling Hedgehog

Thank you to BooksGoSocial for a digital edition of ‘Darling Hedgehog Goes Down a Foxhole’, written by Auralee Arkinsly and illustrated by Julie Swezy, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a chapter book intended for early readers. It’s a sweet cautionary tale about a hedgehog named Darling whose parents are missing. Darling falls into a foxhole and rolls out the other end where she meets Miss Fox.

Miss Fox addresses her as ‘Dumpling’, which should cause some concern. Then she tries to win Darling’s friendship and get her to lower her guard by various means.

This was quite amusing, especially the illustrations as Miss Fox transports Darling on a bike and in a car. Poor Darling is oblivious...

I have a friend who has set up a wildlife camera that nightly captures local hedgehogs and foxes feeding from a station side-by-side so I was fairly confident that Darling would be safe.

This book clearly provides an opportunity for parents and/or teachers to introduce the subject of exercising caution when encountering overly friendly strangers as well as some information about foxes and hedgehogs.

Beware of crafty foxes!

Darling hedge free book easy to read and easy to understand what’s happening in the book there are loads of colourful illustrations quirky little book lots of details have gone into the illustrations.

A nice moral lesson and cute facts about hedgehogs, what's not to like. I liked the illustrations too and found this book to be quite darling.

First off, I have to say I love the cover and little Darling and her curiosity. She thought to go looking for her parents who have been missing. But instead, she found Miss fox, oh boy, and she was a cunning and smooth one indeed.
A cute little book in which little Darling learned a valuable lesson after freeing her parents from the cage prison in Miss fox’s kitchen. The warnings of never trust a stranger, for not everyone you meet, will mean you well, is ever so true in this book.

Darling Hedgehog: Goes Down A Foxhole is a lovely chapter book for primary school aged children. It is the story of Darling the hedgehog who, as the title suggests, falls down a foxhole and finds a fox who she tries to be friends with.

At the beginning of this book I wasn't sure what to expect with the story or what it's main message was but once I reached the end I was pleasantly surprised. I like how the story shows that you should be careful who you talk to and befriend and the fox is the perfect character for this with his sly ways. I think Darling was a great character as she was always so strong and trying to do her best for fox despite the fact that he never seemed appreciative and always acted so strangely.

The book has lots of coloured illustrations throughout which make it great for a range of children whether it is read by themselves or read to them it should be an enjoyable read. The illustrations have a hand drawn look to them which really adds to the sweetness of the book but they are still detailed and very nice for the children to look at. I was surprised at how many pictures there were for a chapter book which is brilliant!

At forty pages it is quite a short read and I think it could've been made longer but it is definitely worth a read. Such a lovely story of Darling the hedgehog and a great message for children to take from it, beware of strangers as they might not be as you expect!

I really enjoyed this sweet and funny story about a hedgehog who accidentally falls into a fox hole and becomes friends with the fox, or so she thinks. The artwork is really beautiful and helps to perfectly tell the story. I think children will like this book

Cute little store to read to your younger kids,nieces,and nephews . The illustrations are adorable don't have kids and nieces and nephews live far away read it in a video and send it to them so they can listen to you read to them at night .

Cutest little hedgehog, illustrations were pretty. It came across as stranger danger to me. hedgehog has to learn not to be so trusting

Darling Hedgehog Goes Down A Foxhole by Auralee Arkinsly is a charming book for young children ages eight years and below. It is beautifully illustrated by Julia Swezy. I only had a black and white copy on my kindle and I imagine a paperback in colour would be stunning.
The book has some life lessons to be learnt – trust must be earnt; be brave; find what you are good at. These are all starting points for discussions with your child.
With simple sentences this book is ideal to read aloud to young children or for early readers to read themselves. It would make a beautiful addition to any bookshelf.
Both the hedgehog and the fox are well illustrated and would appeal to young children. They would translate perfectly into soft toys too.
A very charming read for the very young.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.