Remember the Elephant and Piggie story where Piggie decides she will fly and Gerald calmly tells her that pigs do not fly? If you enjoyed that picture book, then wait until you read Sydney's and Taylor's new adventure. Taylor wants to become a flying hedgehog and "finally see the Whole Wide World." When he announces this Big Idea, Sydney laughs "so hard he accidentally squirted some musk" (which is a hazard when your best friend is a skunk). Despite this lack of support from Sydney, Taylor plans to make, find, or borrow some wings. The results are as funny as you would suppose. Going up in a blanket carried by birds, falling from the sky and flattening poor Sydney, even approaching large animals like deer for advice (a very hard thing for a small hedgehog), Taylor tries everything he can think of. Despite all the crashes, he says that what hurts the most is his heart because Sydney has "always helped me with my Big Ideas. Even when they were silly." That changes things for his best friend and he comes up with his own idea of how to make Taylor's idea happen. The illustrations show the range of emotions on the characters' faces - excitement, disbelief, anxiety, frustration, and finally - well earned contentment. The Sydney and Taylor books have so many elements that make them great reads; friendship, pursuing big ideas and dreams, problem-solving, and humor. As a child I loved the Frog and Toad books, and these two friends have many similarities to those classics. If you haven't tried them yet, you need to do so. Due for release on August 3.
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