As winter approaches, Hedgehog can't wait for the first snowfall! That is, until she learns that hedgehogs are supposed to hibernate and miss all of winter by sleeping through it. Meanwhile, Beaver and the little girl named Annika Mae are working on creating a Friend Fort for all the forest folks to gather in together.

This is a very sweet story, with a quaintness to it in both the language and the gentle watercolor illustrations. It feels like the type of book that younger readers advancing from Frog and Toad early readers onto chapter books would enjoy, or for those readers who love the charm of Winnie the Pooh and other friends from the 100 Acre Wood. The language is mostly straightforward and simple, but it is interspersed with some lesser known words such as "thrice," and Mole has a habit of addressing the crew as "friends" in various languages, including Italian, Japanese, and Zulu.

There are a couple of different plotlines going on here, but I don't think it is at all too complicated for young readers to follow. The overall message is about chosen family being as important (or more important) than biological family. For instance, consider when Hedgehog finally meets other hedgehogs like her and learns they don't enjoy playing in the snow: "These hedgehogs might be made of the same spines and snouts, but their hearts spoke different languages." and the final words of the book as the various animals and Annika Mae gather in the Friend Fort: "They might look different on the outside, but in their hearts, they were family." It is all done with a gentle touch, not overly didactic or heavy-handed, and without casting aspersions on the other hedgehogs -- just acknowledging that they have different interests than Hedgehog.

This book is the second in a series, but it seems to generally stand on its own. I guess there might be a backstory as to how these unlikely band of forest animals and little girl became friends in the first place, but it doesn't really seem to matter for this tale. Embarrassingly enough, it did take me a short chapter or two to realize that Mutty is indeed a plush toy and not a real dog.

As the book is primarily full of animal characters, there isn't much to speak of in terms of diversity. However, the animals are a mix of genders, and Annika mentions an abuela, suggesting she might be of Latinx descent. ( )