cover image A Porcupine Named Fluffy

A Porcupine Named Fluffy

Helen Lester, Lynn M. Munsinger. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), $16 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-395-36895-4

Should Mr. and Mrs. Porcupine name their baby Lance? Needleroozer? Quillian? Perhaps they should, but they don't. Instead they decide on the unlikely name of Fluffy. Fluffy's name is a source of sorrow to the sharp-quilled youngster, until he meets and befriends a rhinoceros named . . . Hippo! Munsinger's bright, cheery pictures are as whimsical as Lester's delightfully silly text. Together, they create nicely absurd images, such as a scene in which Fluffy and Hippo roll on the ground, laughing so hard that they start to cry. Lester and Munsingerwho have collaborated on other picture bookstell a sweet story with joyful exuberance. (38)