Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
A Little Bit of Winter
Illustrator: Chris Riddell
Picture Book
For ages 4 to and up
HarperCollins, 2000 ISBN: 978-0064437493
Rabbit is feeling decidedly sad for himself because his best friend Hedgehog is going to sleep for the winter. There is more to it than that as well for while Rabbit will be missing his sleeping his friend very much, Hedgehog admits that he really won’t be missing Rabbit. After all you "don’t miss your friends when you are asleep."
Hedgehog asks his friend if Rabbit will do him a favor and save him "a little bit of winter" so that he can feel and see what winter is like. Hedgehog even goes so far as to leave Rabbit a note to remind him to fulfill this request, just in case Rabbit forgets.
It is a hard, cold, snowy, and hungry winter for Rabbit but he manages to remember his friend’s wish to experience winter. Carefully and conscientiously he makes his preparations and sets aside "a little bit of winter" for Hedgehog.
Full of the warmth of true friendship and threaded with gentle, tongue-in-cheek humour, this little book is a treasure. Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell have produced yet another Rabbit and Hedgehog story that celebrates the joys of friendship and which brings a smile to one’s face as one turns the pages.
