A Great and Complicated Adventure

In Tellegen and Ahlberg’s fourth collection of animal stories (including Far Way Across the Sea and Letters to Anyone and Everyone), a hedgehog gets stuck in a bush and opts to embrace the situation, an ant rescues a badger from a bad mood (and near disaster), and a bear hitches a ride on a cake that’s literally lighter than air. Ahlberg contributes tidy, sweet-natured spot illustrations and full-page scenes that amplify the many emotions at work in these 19 quirky and meditative stories, from a shark’s shock when the sun suddenly plunges into the ocean to a zebra’s deflated expression after a mouse’s non-speech disrupts his party. Ages 5–up. (Oct.)