Elmore

PreS-Gr 2—Although he enjoys his solitary life nestled snugly in a huge maple tree, Elmore, a porcupine, is lonely and tries to make friends despite his quills that keep others from approaching him. He nails a "Friends Wanted" sign to his tree, but the forest creatures consider him "too prickly" to be around. Disheartened, Elmore begins to regret his beautiful quills until he hits upon the idea of tying them into bundles and offering them as free quill pens. Neighboring animals scoop them up like "hot cakes," and when Elmore suggests they make ink from berries, they begin writing him friendly notes and even tack a message of their own on his tree. Readers' first encounter with Elmore is on the endpapers, a lovely spread executed in watercolor in which the adorable rodent is asleep in the limbs of a birch tree, feet up, paws stretched across his ample belly. More woodland scenes, framed in white, follow, depicting a collection of forest creatures at once curious about Elmore yet repelled by his shooting quills. Whether plopped in a meadow happily munching flowers or scratching his prickly head trying to figure out how to make friends, Elmore will win readers' hearts.