by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 10, 2010

The badger is back! And so is the little blonde girl. You remember them both from "Trouble With Trolls." While the troll's tried to steal a little girl's beloved dog, the badger sneaks into the troll's underground cave - and sleeps in the bed they'd prepared for the dog! It was such a cute storyline that both characters reappeared in a sequel. In "Christmas Trolls," the badger steals all the girl's Christmas decorations!

But in The Hat, the badger finally gets a name - and for the first time, the readers get to see him speak. "How embarrassing," are the first words of "Curious Hedge." He pokes his nose into the little girl's laundry basket… and gets a red-and-white stocking stuck to his prickles! But when a hen asks him what's on his head, he's come up with the perfect excuse.

"It's my new hat. It's it beautiful?

In this book, the little blonde girl is named Lisa, and she doesn't appear until the end of the story. But in the meantime, all the animals have admired the badger's hat. There's a noisy gander honking and laughing, and a barn cat watching from a tree. There's a family of dogs, a pig, and even a pony in the field. But the hedgehog tells them all the same story. It's his new hat - and it'll keep his head warm in the winter!

Jan Brett's books always feature a fun surprise - a second set of her illustrations that appear in the margins surrounding the main illustration at the center of the page. She lets readers catch a glimpse of what Lisa is doing - reading a book, building a fire, making a birdhouse. But she also gives them another look at each of the animals!

In the end, it's the hedgehog that gets the last laugh. Lisa finds him, and lifts her stocking off of his head. "Don't you know that animals don't wear clothes!" she says with a laugh. But on the last page, she gets a surprise of her own…

Everyone piece of her woolen clothing has been stolen from the laundry line. And they're being worn by a parade of overdressed animals!  The chicken leads the parade, prancing proudly in a blue mitten. And behind it is gander in a stocking cap. The orange cat is wrapped up in a green and red ski scarf. And on the book's final page, Lisa is chasing after the animals. All except the hedgehog who started it all, who now looks after the scene and laughs.

"Don't they know that animals should never wear clothes?

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