Pricklepaper’s Letter Magic
Tom Read Wilson and Rebecca Bagley
Words & Pictures

From his cover portrait Pricklepaper the hedgehog is an immediately endearing character. His home is in London’s Regent’s Park where he enjoys collecting scraps of paper. He doesn’t immediately consign these scraps to the rubbish bin as you might expect; rather he uses the letters thereon to make whole words. However, his special talent is to use his letters to alter existing words.

One day when out for a walk he makes the word ‘pullover’ and ends up with a cosy garment that is just right for the hedgehog’s warm personality. As a result he becomes known as the park’s ‘pullover’ friend. In the evening as Pricklepaper strolls near the water’s edge he hears a voice say, “I really am awfully tired of this boat!” What he sees is a lion rowing the boat round in circles having lost one of his oars overboard. The kind-hearted hedgehog comes to the rescue and gives Lion the letter R from one of his quills.

Pricklepaper continues in similar fashion giving letters to in turn, the fountain of Triton in Queen Mary’s Garden and a performing pigeon despairing that she’ll have to cancel her concert.

When he reaches Regent’s Park Cafe, he stops by the rubbish bin to hear Rat’s problem and once again he comes up trumps.

By now the hedgehog is weary and home he goes where he discovers that just four letters are remaining on his quills. They were letters that once were a part of pullover. Can you guess what word he made?

With its heartwarming final spread, this story is surely a winner. A word of warning though: it’s written in rhyme and you will need to read it through carefully before sharing it with a class or group to ensure you get the phrasing right. Ensure too that you allow plenty of time for children to look closely at Rebecca Bagley’s illustrations. They are full of fun details such as the frog in the origami boat and various minibeasts in playful mood throughout the story.