#708 of 1001 · July 9, 2022

Here’s the merry tale of a misfit who is not afraid to make his own fortune: @katecoombs13 and @johnnickleart’s Hans My Hedgehog. A wealthy farmer and his wife deeply long for a baby. The man, in despair, declares that he would want a son even if the boy were half hedgehog. Soon enough, the woman does indeed give birth to a human-hedgehog hybrid. The child, known as Hans-My-Hedgehog, shows talent for tending pigs and playing the fiddle. In time, he decides to fly off on the back of a rooster and live in the forest. On two separate occasions, he encounters kings who are lost and cannot find the road. In exchange for help, the two kings agree to give Hans the first thing they meet when they return to their palaces—and for each king the one who greets him at the gate is his own daughter. The first king reneges on the deal, and Hans plunders his royal fortune in revenge. The second king keeps his word, leading to a happy union and a miraculous transformation. Coombs crafts a narrative full of wit and warmth, while Nickle supplies inviting, smooth-textured acrylic paintings. A note for folklore enthusiasts: in adapting the narrative from the original tale by the Brothers Grimm, Coombs has lightened the tone considerably. In the Grimms’ story, rather than show Hans love and support, his parents resent him for the strange form of his body and wish him dead. Hans himself plays the bagpipes, slaughters his pigs, attacks and wounds the first princess, and turns fully human when his hedgehog skin is burned in a fire. #hedgehog #pigs #king #princess #music #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks