Story Time for Little Porcupine

by Joseph Slate

Before he is ready to go to sleep, Little Porcupine wants to hear--and tell--stories about the Big Porcupine in the Sky, the sun, who pokes holes in the "moon's night cloak" to watch over all the little porcupines in the world.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Nichole · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok. It's animals telling their own myth stories of how things begin. Might be good for introducing the idea of myth. But I think my favorite part of this book was saying Papa Porcupine a million times.

[Terrance Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was so refreshing and nice as the characters told bedtime stories. The book consists of 3 characters: Little porcupine, Mama porcupine, and Papa porcupine;however the story mainly focuses on papa and little porcupine. Both tell stories to each other adhering to the same character and setting, the big porcupine in the sky a.k.a the sun. Each story is very playful and creative taking attributes of the sun and sky such as, sunsets and the suns rays and creates playful little stories. It was nice and the illustrations were great throughout I especially loved the images shown during the second story "Big Porcupine's Picnic" . I recommend this book for readers and parents alike, as I feel reading this book your children at bedtime would be a delight for both the children and the parents.

[Michelle Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overview: It’s time for bed & Little Porcupine wants Papa Porcupine to tell him some stories. There are 3 stories in this book – “How the Big Porcupine Got His Spines,” “Big Porcupine’s Picnic,” and “How the Big Porcupine Fooled the Moon.” Papa Porcupine tells the first & third stories to Little Porcupine & Little Porcupine tells the second one to Papa.

Mommy Bookworm’s Thoughts: This book is ADORABLE!!! I love all kinds of animals & the illustrations in this book are amazing to me. They make me want to just take the porcupines right out of the book & cuddle with them – except for when it mentions how they give a “big scratchy hug” or a “big ouchy hug.” The “Big Porcupine” is the sun & although the stories are obviously fiction, I love them because the porcupines are trying to relate nature to themselves. I love all the stories, but particularly like the second one because Little Porcupine talks about how he wasn’t invited to a party, but how he would invite everyone to a party if he has one, and how Big Porcupine includes everyone in his parties (which are sunsets). I think it has a great message of including everyone. All the stories have great messages about nature.

Dahlia Bookworm’s Thoughts (11 years old): I thought the book was cute because the porcupine wanted to have story time before bed. I like the part where the little porcupine told the story of the sun’s picnic. I liked the pictures & colors. I can read it by myself easily & would recommend it to kids my age and a little younger, but not too much younger.

Daisy Bookworm’s Thoughts (7 years old): I like the second and third stories because they were funny. I really like the pictures and colors. I would need some help reading it. I think other kids my age would like it. I also think the author wrote the book just for fun. I really like the book because it is interesting.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute book! Papa Porcupine carries his son upstairs for bedtime, where the two share stories about the Big Porcupine (the sun). This book is actually one story with three shorter stories embedded within it. Papa first tells Little Porcupine the story of how Big Porcupine got his spines (how the sun got its rays). Then Little Porcupine tells Papa a story about how the sunset came to be. Lastly, Papa tells his son the story of how Big Porcupine fooled the moon (how the stars came to be). All three little bedtime stories were so clever. The best thing about the book, however, was Jacqueline Rogers' illustrations. I just love the details of the porcupines' house--the stair steps made of split logs, the bird's nest (with bird!) on Little Porcupine's bedpost, his pillow stuffed with leaves, his bedding of grass, his tree stump nightstand (with a little drawer), and, at the end, the picture of the whole house snuggled and hidden between two trees. The illustrations of the three bedtime stories are separated from the text of the main story by soft blue and white checkered margins. This is another delightful story sadly out of print, and highly recommended.

[Marlowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sweet little picture book about a baby porcupine being taken to bed and telling stories with her/his father.

The length is good for a toddler, long enough for my kid to lull (and perhaps even fall asleep) before he has to get up and choose another book, but with few enough words per page that he wasn’t getting bored between illustrations.

Speaking of the illustrations, they were a little simplistic (with not a lot going on in the background) but very expressive, with lots of facial expressions showing a range of emotions.

I found the subject of the story very interesting, personally. The premise is that the father and his kid are telling stories to each other, and it was nice to give the child some creative voice. The stories themselves focused on the adventures of the Big Porcupine – the sun with a face – and follow the patterns of ‘Just So’ stories – the first being about how Big Porcupine got his quills (the sun’s rays), for example. The stories reminded me of El-ahrairah from Watership Down.

This is a book that my son and I were both able to enjoy together.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every wonder what fairy tales porcupines tell their children? Well, now you can find out! A series of tales (kinda similar to Native America folk lore) about the great Porcupine in the sky (the sun).

I enjoyed the illustrations. They were very cute.