Porcupining: A Prickly Love Story

love the word-play: 'poking fun' 'stuck-up' etc.
Of course the story is metaphorical. Or silly, if you want to take it that way. A porcupine wouldn't really court a rabbit or a pig. But it's still an awfully cute story about finding someone sympatico...

I was on the fence with this book. I liked the language and illustrations in the book, but I did not like the way the animals insulted one another, and the story left me searching for a bigger idea.

The language of the book was rhythmic in style as shown in the following excerpt, “I’ve been so lonesome all my life. No one will get near. I’m porcupining for a wife. Someone to hold me dear.”. The rhythmic nature of the book made it an easy read, but that was about it.

On Cushions search for a wife he would sing songs to the various animals, but his songs were insulting and mean, and the animals were rude in return. For instance he called the pigs fat and the rabbits called Cushion a pin-cushion. I found this to be off putting and show more kept waiting for there to be a lesson in being nice to one another, but it never came.

I guess if there is a big idea in this book, it’s that anyone can find a friend, because even Cushion finds a friend in the end show less

A cute, funny story with great illustrations. Would work better if there was a melody to sing with Cushion's sad, sad song. Perhaps too sappy for older audiences.

Porcupining: A Prickly Love Story is about a porcupine named Cushion who lives in a petting zoo. Cushion, being a porcupine, cannot be petted. This creates a problem from Cushion because is so lonely. It is no fun for a porcupine to live in a petting zoo since he can’t be touched. He gets very lonely and decides one day he will no longer be depressed he will go find a wife. He stops at all the animal’s cages like the pigs, beavers, and rabbits to try to get a wife. This fails miserable because Cushion keeps insulting everyone. Finally he finds a hedgehog named Barbara and they fall in love because they both have quills. This story was so cute! I would love to read this story around Valentine’s Day. The website I attached is print show more outs from the story describing porcupines. I found it on Lisa Wheelers website. show less

Ugh, I can't sing. Also this porcupine is kind of a jerk, but he makes for a very funny storytime read.

Porcupine is pining for a wife...it's fun to watch him approach various animals and try to make a match. Cute for Valentine's day with preschool-grade 2. (Online at Tumblebooks)

Fun punny book.