Mama and Papa hedgehog are packing boxes and taking down pictures, revealing lighter shapes on the wall where the frames were mounted. It can mean only one thing: the hedgehog family is moving.
How will Zelda, the little bow-wearing hedgehog, survive in a new place without Aaron, her large anteater best friend? She's not sure she can, so she tries packing him in her green suitcase, but he doesn't fit. She doesn't want to go. "Before I leave..." she says, "let's play!" They swing on swings, row around in a boat, and talk via tin can and string from treehouse to fort. When Aaron shoots his crazy-long anteater tongue across the meadow to swipe Zelda's ice cream scoop, the text says, "I'll miss you and the fun we'll have together." As Zelda flies off her end of the seesaw, the text says, "I'm scared to go" and "But you say it will be okay." It is okay, especially when Zelda unpacks her green suitcase in her new home and finds Aaron's crayon drawings of the two of them and his note: "I'll miss you."
A child facing a move or any other sad goodbye would be comforted by Before I Leave, which shows there are ways for people who love each other to feel connected even when separated by distance. Jessixa Bagley (Boats for Papa) has a knack for getting to the heart of things with very few words, and her winsome watercolor illustrations, with the finest of lines (those intricate hedgehog spines!), speak volumes. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness