Sticky Situation: Hedgehog's Halloween by Benn Sutton and Dan Pinto

HEDGEHOG HAD JUST PUT ON HIS SLIPPERS WHEN HE HEARD SOMEONE AT THE TOP OF HIS BURROW.

"HOWDY PARTNER!  Y'ALL READY TO PAAARTY?"

Hannah Armadillo is all decked out as an old cowhand, and suddenly Hedgehog realizes he has forgotten all about the Halloween costume party! Ooops!

Costumes are always hard, and Hedgehog only has a little while to find one before the party begins.

Hedgehog's friends are ready and willing to help, but costuming a prickly person is not as easy as you might think. Their first thought is the ever-popular sheet to turn himself into a semi-scary ghost. But just pulling the cloth over his head turns it into a mess of holes.

"I'M SUPPOSED TO BE A GHOST, NOT SWISS CHEESE!"

Edie the owl comes up with an easy alternative. The friends blow up some purple balloons and tie them together. Hedgehog can go as a bunch of grapes! He tries them on.

Bang! Pow! Pop! Hedgehog's costume deflates instantly.

A mummy wrap turns out to be equally unworkable. Hedgehog is ready to give up.

But there is one costume idea that absolutely requires spines, and with a little help from his friends, Hedgehog is soon attired all in green, a perfectly spiny prickly pear cactus in Benn Sutton's happy Halloween story of the perils of being prickly, Hedgehug's Halloween (Harper, 2013).   Reassuring for young readers who may need some persuasion to put on their disguises and head out among all those creepy costumes and monster masks, this friendly little story may get them in the mood to join the party. Dan Pinto's textured collage illustrations are festive and bright to add to the holiday theme, and Sutton's final costume idea is a fitting and humorous surprise for youngsters to uncover.

Sutton and Pinto's first book about their thorny character who finds his way in a thin-skinned world is the February-themed Hedgehug: A Sharp Lesson in Love Hedgehug (see review here).