Jay Harold

Orinoco, AKA Bogeybum, Adventures of an African Pygmy Hedgehog Jay Harold

This is a story about Orinoco, an African Pygmy Hedgehog's adventures that start when his is sold, along with his beloved brother Henry, to Chelsea, a cruel and thoughtless young woman. The brothers suffer neglect and cruelty at Chelsea's hands, as she only wants to post 'cute' videos of the hedgehogs on YouTube without taking any care of her pets. Despite her father's admonishments she continues to abuse the hedgehogs until they become unwell. Fearing the repercussions of being shown up as being a cruel person to her new found friends, Chelsea releases the hedgehogs, which need constant heat, into the wild, with tragic consequences. However, kindness of strangers prevails and they receive help from a 'wildie', a native hedgehog and a young boy who discovers them while walking their dog. We learn about the needs of these exotic animals and unfortunately, also the cruelty they can sometimes suffer from at the hands of their owners. There are some graphic descriptions of cruelty which I feel are appropriate for the age group to which this story is aimed. Orinoco also learns a lot about himself during his journey and there is a happy resolution at the end. If this story helps children think carefully before asking for a pet then my job will be done, but hopefully conveyed in the enjoyable form of old fashioned story telling. I have included the character of Sara as she also explains how difficult it is to survive as a native hedgehog in today's modern world. It also touches on the many YouTube videos that you can see with hedgehogs, some of which involve incredible cruelty towards these sensitive and complex animals. I hope you enjoy the book while learning about these delightful and intriguing animals.