A West Midlands author, Robert A. Brown, will read his newly published children’s book, William the Hedgehog Boy, at the Ross-on-Wye Hedgehog Festival’s Family Fun Day on Sunday, September 17th.

Robert’s book tells the story of William, a lonely schoolboy with a quick temper. When he comes across a group of boys hurling sticks at a defenceless hedgehog, he bravely chases them off and takes the injured animal to the vets. He nurses the hedgehog, whom he names Lucky, back to health, and the story focuses on their ensuing bond.

Robert, who is a retired teacher, first became interested in hedgehogs, after his wife brought home a hoglet. She had been having her hair done one day, and her hairdresser asked if she would like to see her baby hedgehogs.

The hairdresser looked after hoglets, which had been rejected by their parents, and when they were big enough, she released them back into the wild. Robert's wife was asked if she would like to take one on.

Robert and his wife talked about it, did some research, and decided to foster a hoglet. They named him Chubby. They did eventually release Chubby back into the wild when he was big and strong, but they set up infra-red cameras, so they could see if he came back to visit. He did, and they could see he had made a friend. Nature took its course, and soon Chubby had four hoglets of his own. This experience inspired Robert to write his children's book. Wanting to get his story out quickly, he went down the self-publishing route, and had 500 copies of his novel printed. Within eight months of him first approaching Troubador Publishing, Robert had received his books. Robert and his wife continue to take in hedgehogs, and they also go into schools, to educate children about the ways they do their part to help care for hedgehogs in the wild. Before he published his book, Robert did not know about the strong links that Ross-on-Wye has to hedgehogs; as well as being the mascot of the town, the spiky mammals have a strong historical link to Ross, which is celebrated during the annual Hedgehog Festival. A friend of Robert's told him about the event, and he contacted Yolande Watson, the organiser of the festival. "It's such an iconic place, with such an iconic creature, when the festival happens I hope I can do my bit to generate some interest for the next generation," Robert commented. On September 17th, there will be the opportunity to buy a copy of William the Hedgehog Boy. Books are retailed at £7.99 but you will be able to buy a copy from Robert on the day of the book reading for £5.William the Hedgehog Boy can be enjoyed by readers aged 9-11 with an interest in wildlife. Read more about the synopsis of the story in this week's edition of the Ross Gazette. or subscribe to our online edition here.