Baby Porcupine

This title follows a porcupette from her birth in a cave in early May until early fall when she is able to survive away from her mother. This talented writer/photographer team provides a well-balanced combination of information with extraordinary full-color photos obtained by observing a mother and her baby in a Minnesota forest. Readers are given insight into the animal’s diet and behavior and a look at some of the other wildlife that shares her habitat. A captivating moment comes when a fisher comes after the baby while she is alone, and includes images of her attempt to protect herself by squeezing into some rocks and of her predator with a nose full of quills. Though the text is spare, the glimpses that it provides of the daily life of a porcupine are fascinating. A Did You Know? section offers additional bits of trivia. Deep in a Minnesota forest, a baby porcupine (called a porcupette) hides in a warm cave while she grows and develops. A climber from her second day in the world, the little porcupette is slow and pudgy; she is still in danger from predators. But as she grows bigger and stronger, her quills will also grow, and soon she will no longer need her mother’s protection.