The Hedgehog of Oz by Cory Leonardo (review)

Leonardo, Cory The Hedgehog of Oz. Aladdin, 2021 [400p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781534467590 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781534467613 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 3-6

Marcel the hedgehog is holed up in the Emerald City Theater when the janitor nabs him, and the prickly little guy is tossed in a box, driven to the country, and unceremoniously dropped in the middle of nowhere. Well, not quite nowhere, as Marcel learns when the residents of Mousekinland come out to thank him for crushing the milk snake that had been terrorizing them. He's happy to be celebrated but would really just like to get back home to the theater or, even better, his former owner, Dorothy. Scamp, the littlest mouse and one looking to prove her mettle, offers to take him to the city, following the "yellow stink-water." Along the way they meet Ingot, a grieving, grumpy squirrel, and Tuffy, a terrified baby raccoon, and the pals must contend with nasty seagulls, even nastier rats, and the ruthless owl Wickedwing. The nods to Baum aren't at all subtle but they're plenty clever, and Marcel makes the connections apparent as he wonders at how his story mirrors that of his favorite movie to watch at the Emerald City Theater. Of course, each of the little foursome must confront their own insecurities and prove to themselves they already are what they want to be, but the journey here is decidedly more harrowing than that in the book's inspiration, and it is tinged with tragedy. There's plenty of laughs to be had here alongside the tears, though (the dialogue between cheeky Scamp and cranky Ingot is particularly charming), and quirky details make it more of an homage to the original than derivative, giving it plenty appeal to readers with or without familiarity with Oz.