Prickly Predicaments - The (Mis)adventures of Harry & Henrietta Hedgehog in Dubai (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

Prickly Predicaments is the first of a series of three books for children, aimed at a ten to eleven year old audience. The main characters are two desert hedgehogs that live in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The action in Prickly Predicaments covers two nights and a day in the lives of Henrietta and Harry as they become separated from one another. Two boys, one Saudi and one American, come into possession of the animals. The story concerns the adventures of the hedgehogs within the two households and how they come to be reunited. All of Harry and Henrietta's actions reflect the natural behavior of hedgehogs and details of Arabic language, ambience and culture are based on my experience as a long time resident of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The boys have in common: their love of animals, trouble communicating with their fathers and their sense that boys live in a secret world apart, not accessible to adults. The hedgehogs display no interest in the humans. It is their indifference to anything but their own condition which establishes their credibility as dignified creatures with a right to be free. The Middle Eastern motif is topical and presents the Arab culture realistically but non-judgmentally. In the course of the story some cultural differences between Americans and Saudis are overcome by mutual human concerns and the friendship of the two boys.