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Dimwood Forest #4
Ereth's Birthday
Erethizon Dorsatum—better known as Ereth, the self-centered, foul-tempered old porcupine—is having a birthday. And he fully expects his best friend Poppy, a deer mouse, to help him celebrate in a grand manner. But Poppy has gone off somewhere with her husband, Rye, and it appears she has forgotten all about it. "Belching Beavers," says Ereth, "I am not angry!" (Though, perhaps he is—and more than just a little.)
Ereth knows his special occasion deserves a special treat—even if he has to get it for himself. And what treat could be more special than tasty salt? But the nearest salt is located deep in the forest, in a cabin occupied by fur hunters, who have set out traps to capture the Dimwood Forest animals. In one of the traps, Ereth finds Leaper the Fox—who, with her dying breath, begs the prickly porcupine to take care of her three boisterous young kits, Tumble, Nimble, and Flip. "Jellied walrus warts!" Ereth exclaims, but reluctantly agrees.
Certainly this day is not going as he planned—and it's only just the beginning! Not only does Ereth suddenly have a rambunctious new family to take care of, but he's being stalked by Marty the Fisher, the one creature in Dimwood Forest who can do him harm. And Bounder, the father of the three little foxes, remembers all too well the nose full of quills he got a while back from the grumpy old animal who now fancies himself the leader of the den. He too sets out to show Ereth who's boss. Throw in an unexpected snowstorm, and all in all, it adds up to one brithday Ereth the porcupine is never going to forget, not even if he lives to be a hundred and twenty-two!
Ereth knows his special occasion deserves a special treat—even if he has to get it for himself. And what treat could be more special than tasty salt? But the nearest salt is located deep in the forest, in a cabin occupied by fur hunters, who have set out traps to capture the Dimwood Forest animals. In one of the traps, Ereth finds Leaper the Fox—who, with her dying breath, begs the prickly porcupine to take care of her three boisterous young kits, Tumble, Nimble, and Flip. "Jellied walrus warts!" Ereth exclaims, but reluctantly agrees.
Certainly this day is not going as he planned—and it's only just the beginning! Not only does Ereth suddenly have a rambunctious new family to take care of, but he's being stalked by Marty the Fisher, the one creature in Dimwood Forest who can do him harm. And Bounder, the father of the three little foxes, remembers all too well the nose full of quills he got a while back from the grumpy old animal who now fancies himself the leader of the den. He too sets out to show Ereth who's boss. Throw in an unexpected snowstorm, and all in all, it adds up to one brithday Ereth the porcupine is never going to forget, not even if he lives to be a hundred and twenty-two!
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
37 people are currently reading
919 people want to read
About the author
Avi
346 books1,716 followersAvi is a pen name for Edward Irving Wortis, but he says, "The fact is, Avi is the only name I use." Born in 1937, Avi has created many fictional favorites such as
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle,
Nothing but the Truth,
and the Crispin series. His work is popular among readers young and old.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
March 12, 2019
I love grumpy old Ereth.
December 23, 2020
This is my favorite book in the series, I adore Ereth. His curse words and courageousness just make me so happy. He feels rejected on his Birthday so he goes off to look for salt and only finds sadness. He promises and comes through with his promise even though he’s not entirely sure why he has too. We learn in this book that he has a soft spot not only for Poppy but for other creatures.
July 25, 2020
The kids are really enjoying this series.
October 12, 2024
These are so entertaining as little bedtime background noise.
December 11, 2025
my favorite one so far
March 18, 2008
Ereth's Birthday is the fourth book out of five in the Poppy Series by Avi, and the third that I've read (my school library doesn't carry the first). The first book was okay, the second pretty good, and this one is even better than the others. This one differs from the others in that its main character is Ereth the porcupine rather than Poppy the mouse. Ereth is like your grouchy grampa who bitches about everything and comes up with new and exciting cursewords to broaden the entire family's vocabularies ("Grumpy goat galoshes!" and "Turn down the vomit volume!"). You can't help but love him, and the entire reason you love him is because he is so much fun to piss off. Acknowledging his presence is akin to adjusting the clock for spring daylight savings time on a ticking time bomb. But deep down he's a big ol' teddy bear and the glue that holds the family together. In this story, the lovable grouch plays Da-da to three fox kits when their mother is killed in a trap. He digs being a baby daddy but refuses to admit he cares about the brats. It's an endearing story about the grouch everyone knows and loves discovering his sensitive, girlyman side.
January 9, 2025
I wanted to start off the year with some lighter and less serious reading after kind of trudging through my reading goals toward the end of the year. This book was a big nostalgia read for me so my rating is a little biased, but I’m a sucker for a typically grumpy and isolated main character who grows a soft spot for another character because of an unavoidable situation pushing them together. 🥹
My childhood librarians were also family friends and challenged me to read this book one summer because I was flying through and running out of all of my grade-level books. It was a little beyond what I typically read, but was the first time I truly felt engulfed in a story. This was the first book I read anywhere near this length, that dealt with a character dying and consequent grief of other characters, personal sacrifice, danger, teamwork, complex character dynamics (the good guy for some characters is the bad guy from someone else’s experience), etc.
This book was part of fueling my original love for reading, and what pushed me to keep looking for new worlds and characters to cry over, root for, and fall in love with. I’ve always remembered it fondly but could never remember the name of the book or series until finally finding it a few months ago after years of searching. This was so fun to read 20+ years later after looking back on it for most of my life as the start of my love for fiction. 💛
My childhood librarians were also family friends and challenged me to read this book one summer because I was flying through and running out of all of my grade-level books. It was a little beyond what I typically read, but was the first time I truly felt engulfed in a story. This was the first book I read anywhere near this length, that dealt with a character dying and consequent grief of other characters, personal sacrifice, danger, teamwork, complex character dynamics (the good guy for some characters is the bad guy from someone else’s experience), etc.
This book was part of fueling my original love for reading, and what pushed me to keep looking for new worlds and characters to cry over, root for, and fall in love with. I’ve always remembered it fondly but could never remember the name of the book or series until finally finding it a few months ago after years of searching. This was so fun to read 20+ years later after looking back on it for most of my life as the start of my love for fiction. 💛
July 15, 2019
The Dimwood series are fun and short, and very wordy. Ereth is by far one of the best characters in the entirety of the book series, and him getting a book is great. Ereth's speech is often punctuated with fourth wall breaks("elephant ears", "pull the chain and grab five mops") and it's the worst part of him in every book. It's very distracting, beyond his other phrases which make sense, rabbit earwax, nit nose, tick-brain. The fact he knows things impossible for him to know in his alliteration does get old.
Avi stays true to his Dimwood series, mostly in something has to die nearly every book, some terrible fate happens, blood, death, and of course, the ending that wraps each book up seemingly find on its own. Ones which always imply the character ages and dies and tells you their end subtly should there not be a next book.
The foxes are adorable, but rude, and Avi also stays true in writing animals as jerks, prudes, bad parents, and just selfish beings, if not for Ereth breaking the fourth wall ten dozen times, this book would be perfect. As is, out of the few Dimwood books, it's already pretty much the best. A book about a porcupine is always a neat book to give a read to!
Avi stays true to his Dimwood series, mostly in something has to die nearly every book, some terrible fate happens, blood, death, and of course, the ending that wraps each book up seemingly find on its own. Ones which always imply the character ages and dies and tells you their end subtly should there not be a next book.
The foxes are adorable, but rude, and Avi also stays true in writing animals as jerks, prudes, bad parents, and just selfish beings, if not for Ereth breaking the fourth wall ten dozen times, this book would be perfect. As is, out of the few Dimwood books, it's already pretty much the best. A book about a porcupine is always a neat book to give a read to!
February 14, 2021
Finally a book in this series that I like! Ereth is crabby and crass, and I probably wouldn’t mind so much if it weren’t for his ridiculously foul mouth. Ridiculous because most of it is made up animal related silliness, but it’s still foul, and the fact that the kids he’s around laugh at his words make it even more obvious that this is the point of it. I’ll be the crabby mom that complains because I have a hard enough time with my kids using unkind or obnoxious words that I always consider it in a book before I’ll pass it along to my kids.
The rest of the book, however, is awfully likeable. Crabby Ereth is upset because his best friends have apparently forgotten his birthday. He wanders off to find himself a gift and it leads him to foster parenthood, danger, and worst of all, deep feelings. He shows his true colors by consistently choosing decency and kindness when it would be easier to turn a blind eye to those in need, and all his bluster and crabbiness is just to cover up how he really feels about the fox kits and his other friends. His friends see thru his gruff exterior, and they show their love and devotion to him, much to his own surprise.
The rest of the book, however, is awfully likeable. Crabby Ereth is upset because his best friends have apparently forgotten his birthday. He wanders off to find himself a gift and it leads him to foster parenthood, danger, and worst of all, deep feelings. He shows his true colors by consistently choosing decency and kindness when it would be easier to turn a blind eye to those in need, and all his bluster and crabbiness is just to cover up how he really feels about the fox kits and his other friends. His friends see thru his gruff exterior, and they show their love and devotion to him, much to his own surprise.
September 16, 2022
I'm sure that when writing a story where all the characters are animals it's easy to assign them human feelings. But, this was excessive. If you want to write a story filled with human drama (jealousy, devotion, sacrifice, losing loved ones...) (in other words feeling this that or the other thing) then write a story about humans.
This story read as one big journal of feelings. Animals experiencing all.the.feelings. Guess what? Animals are different than humans. It is a disservice to both to make them interchangeable.
This story read as one big journal of feelings. Animals experiencing all.the.feelings. Guess what? Animals are different than humans. It is a disservice to both to make them interchangeable.
November 24, 2017
A novel for kids that I read with my nine-year-old, about a cranky porcupine who becomes a surrogate father to three fox kits. Very good: suspenseful, touching, and clever. It’s also nicely realistic (other than the talking animals) – the (vegetarian) porcupine struggles with the challenge of getting food for (carnivorous) foxes, and the foxes’ father, when he shows up, illustrates the differing approaches to caring for children that exist in the animal world.
July 19, 2018
My 8-year-old daughter liked this book pretty well, but I could barely stand it. There is not a single likable character in the whole book (although a few are neutral), and the protagonist is especially annoying. He literally "screams", "cries", "shrieks", or "yells" almost every single word he says-- which gets really old really fast when one is trying to read the book aloud at bedtime. I expected better from Avi.
November 9, 2021
I can't remember the last chapter book we read aloud that had all three kids cackling hysterically so frequently. Ereth is the perfect "grumpy old man" character and Avi is a master storyteller. My kids wholeheartedly give this 5 stars (all three immediately restarted it on audio). I thought some of difficult truths of nature might be a bit too intense for them (death of animals by hunters), but it didn't seem to phase them.
November 29, 2017
I just LOVED this.. probably because gruff Ereth with the soft heart reminds me of my dad. it had a wonderful happy ending and it's so fun to hear about the intimate real lives of the animals. I always learn something...and then the great little moral nuggets tucked inside that are so good to talk and think about for me and my growing boys!
July 19, 2022
I absolutely love Ereth and all of his wonderfully silly sayings! Because of this, this book was extra enjoyable. The character development was good and the action kept it moving at a good, steady pace. As is often the case with Avi's books, the end was extremely satisfying. I highly recommend this book and this series.
May 23, 2025
An entertaining chapter book about a curmudgeonly porcupine who discovers through various adventures that he actually enjoys family, company, socializing, and helping others. Adorable illustrations and realistic depictions of animals (if you excuse the fact that they all talk)! Sweet and not too scary for younger readers. One in a series, but can be read as a stand-alone.
July 13, 2017
NoveList K-8 lists this as #4.
What a way to spend your birthday! Rough and tough Ereth shows his soft side as he sacrifices his own desires to help a dying fox. His language and his actions are more entertaining than ever.
The demise of Marty was handled well.
What a way to spend your birthday! Rough and tough Ereth shows his soft side as he sacrifices his own desires to help a dying fox. His language and his actions are more entertaining than ever.
The demise of Marty was handled well.
November 17, 2017
This was a cute book, my nine year old enjoyed the grumpy porcupine and his attempts to take care of some orphaned fox kits. The book does describe the kit's mother dying in a trap, and the kits trying to grasp the concept of their mother's death, so it can be sad in parts.
December 15, 2018
Here's the problem: Ereth is supposed to be "gruff but kind at heart"... but he hardly ever has a kind word to say and borders on verbally/emotional abusive. That's not ok. And he's not all that likeable. I still love the series though.
July 10, 2019
There are a lot of sweet qualities to this book. However, the grumpy nonsense way the main character constantly talks took away a lot of the enjoyment I might have had reading this story. I can get behind irritable characters but I just do not enjoy that style of writing.
September 22, 2019
Read aloud to the kids and we enjoyed finding out what was going to happen to the grumpy porcupine. Didn’t know this was third in a series. Will be checking out the previous books as this was a fun read.
January 22, 2021
Another good story in the Dimwood Forest series for kids, but it's darker than the others. If reading with young kids, you may want to read ahead. It opened up some good discussions for us about the realities of hunting and trapping.
February 19, 2021
This is a series I’ve been reading out loud to my son and I it’s nice to have books that he enjoys and I don’t get bored reading them to him. The characters are memorable and the story is simple but entertaining.
March 11, 2021
Sad and realistic in terms of animal violence, but the crabby main character made it worth finishing. Pretty wordy for a read-alone, but it worked well for a read-aloud bedtime story. My son was upset when it was sad, but he still wanted to know what would come next. Lovely illustrations, as well.
August 9, 2022
Although I have heard of Avi's well-known Poppy before I have never taken the opportunity to read it and so was slightly surprised to see that titular character appear in this book although as a name at first. As a result Ereth's Birthday is part of the Dimwood Forest series but even as such you can read it independently of the other books.
The story follows along one grouchy old porcupine name Erethizon Dorsatum who wakes up on his birthday. His best friend's children vex him, agitating him further and further while their mother is nowhere around to wish him a cheerful happy birthday. Feeling forgotten and wronged against he chooses that he is just going to disappear, possibly to just treat himself even with an oncoming storm. But he doesn't need to worry about the storm so much as what the storm will bring with it.
For me usually if a book has illustrations I would say that it is a juvenile young adults book and one that would be a good stepping stone into chapter books. Although this book has illustrations it is close to 200 pages long while the font size is rather small. At the same time there is the name of the porcupine, which may be hard to pronounce for it is its Latin scientific name, which I find fascinating.
Otherwise the book does remind me of a mix of the Redwall series without the deep anthropomorphism and a number of other fictional animal character books that take place out in the wilds with talking animals. The reader who enjoys these books will most definitely enjoy this book itself while I am torn about whether to give this book to my niece or to pass it on to my husband.
The story follows along one grouchy old porcupine name Erethizon Dorsatum who wakes up on his birthday. His best friend's children vex him, agitating him further and further while their mother is nowhere around to wish him a cheerful happy birthday. Feeling forgotten and wronged against he chooses that he is just going to disappear, possibly to just treat himself even with an oncoming storm. But he doesn't need to worry about the storm so much as what the storm will bring with it.
For me usually if a book has illustrations I would say that it is a juvenile young adults book and one that would be a good stepping stone into chapter books. Although this book has illustrations it is close to 200 pages long while the font size is rather small. At the same time there is the name of the porcupine, which may be hard to pronounce for it is its Latin scientific name, which I find fascinating.
Otherwise the book does remind me of a mix of the Redwall series without the deep anthropomorphism and a number of other fictional animal character books that take place out in the wilds with talking animals. The reader who enjoys these books will most definitely enjoy this book itself while I am torn about whether to give this book to my niece or to pass it on to my husband.
July 1, 2017
Review by T.M.: "I liked the drawings. I dislike the fact it was a little kid's book."
July 17, 2017
Read aloud to my kids. They keep asking for more. And I enjoy this series as well, this is one of my favorites in the series right up there with Poppy.
July 21, 2017
Not my favorite in the series, but still fun. Full review here: http://www.sunlitpages.com/2017/03/re...
August 24, 2017
The hunt is on... for salt the most prized thing that Ereth has ever known. But with Marty stalking him things are sure to be intense.
March 16, 2018
Read aloud to the kids. They loved it, and I found it as charming as the others in this series. Avi rocks!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews