Customer Reviews

Hugh Pine and Something Else

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A sweet tale on Hugh Pine the Porcupine and his "big" adventure in New York. It should be good entertainment for the target audience: children at all ages of elementary school. The issues at hand (what is a vacation; what is a big city and how does one solve a dispute) are enough to occupy any young reader. Still, this book is less far-reaching than the first two in the series. In the first book, "Hugh Pine", the porcupine - who only wants to be left alone - finds his red hat, he receives his name and he saves all his fellow-porcupines first from accidents and then from hunger. In the following book, "Hugh Pine and the Good Place", this clever but unfriendly porcupine undergoes a major personal change - from the seeking of solitude to the seeking of company. My advice: read all Hugh Pines in the order of appearance!

I love Hugh Pine. His transformation to a poor man's Paddington Bear was handled beautifully in the first book, "Hugh Pine."

The second book, "Hugh Pine and the Good Place" was still magic.

I'm sorry to say, that "Hugh Pine and Something Else" is slightly disappointing. The story starts out promisingly, with Hugh "tricking" his friend, Mr. McTosh into taking him on vacation to the 'big city.' The trip is described amusingly, and Mr. McTosh's sister is a hoot, calling Hugh "nephew."

My problem is with how the author handles the house pets. Dogs, cats and parrots shouldn't be allowed outside the house alone, or indeed, sometimes not at all. The fact that Hugh tames the neighborhood "bully," another pet who is allowed to roam the street alone does not improve this premise.

The sightseeing, the sister, visiting in someone else's home are all gems, but the pet storyline is WRONG.

Still highlighted with lovely drawings, I hope the author finds his way back to the Hugh Pine stories we know and love.

The subjects as listed for this book by trusty ole' amazon.com are as follows: porcupines, fiction, vacations, friendship, and Brooklyn. Whereas fiction, friendship, and Brooklyn are subjects in my life that I am realitively comfortable and familiar with, I am only vaugely acquainted with vacations and am completely in the dark on the porcupine thing. So, when I received Hugh Pine and Something Else for Christmas several years ago, I was looking foreward to expanding my knowledge in these two rather mysterious arenas. There was, however, a slight problem. The Something Else in my copy of Hugh Pine and Something Else was the fact that in my copy, the first signature was repeated over and over for the entire book. A Calvino-like quest ensued. I followed the trail of Hugh Pine to several bookstores and libraries. I riffled through shelves and placed orders. I finally did found out out more about vacations and porcupines. I have yet to discover the Something Else that happened to Hugh Pine, but perhaps I have, do to this most metaphysical children's book experience ever, touched the hem of the Something Else that happened to me.