Some stories unfold like fairy tales; others, like dreams. And then there are those rare, quiet works—like Hedgehog in the Fog by Sergey Kozlov—that drift gently between the two, casting a spell that lingers long after the last page is turned. Hedgehog in the Fog is a tender and enigmatic parable about fear, wonder, and friendship that resonates across generations.
The story begins simply. Hedgehog is making his usual journey through the forest to visit Bear for their evening ritual: sitting together counting the stars and drinking tea with raspberry jam.
But on this night, a fog descends. Thick, mysterious, and full of strange silhouettes, the fog transforms Hedgehog’s familiar path into a world both magical and eerie. As he wanders through it—encountering an owl, a mysterious white horse, and the whisper of something unseen—he becomes disoriented and frightened yet also enchanted. When he finally emerges and finds Bear, who has been waiting patiently with tea and jam, worried for his friend, the warmth of their reunion is as profound as the fog was bewildering.
It’s a reminder that no matter how lost we may feel, someone may be waiting for us in the dark with a cup of warmth. This return to intimacy, after such a haunting journey, restores balance and trust in the world.
Stylistically, Hedgehog in the Fog shares something in spirit with the works of Beatrix Potter or Kenneth Grahame, but there is a melancholy in its beauty, a tenderness in its uncertainties.
is not a bold adventurer or a mischievous rogue—he is cautious, thoughtful, prone to inner dialogue and trembling pauses.
What makes Hedgehog in the Fog endure is not just its gentle prose or its atmospheric illustrations, but its emotional precision. The story captures the essence of what it means to be small in a vast and unknowable world—to marvel at its beauty, to fear its shadows, and to carry on anyway. Hedgehog’s journey is one that all of us undertake, in some form or another: the passage through uncertainty toward the comfort of understanding, or at least companionship.
For children, the story offers just enough suspense to thrill, but not to frighten. The fog is never malicious—it simply is. It’s a natural presence, like nightfall or snow, imbued with wonder and ambiguity. For adult readers, the fog can easily become a metaphor: for death, for the unknown, for anxiety, for the ineffable mystery of being alive. That is Kozlov’s quiet genius—his ability to write a story that reads like a fable for children but reverberates like poetry for adults.
Hedgehog in the Fog is, in its own quiet way, a masterpiece, a gentle, haunting classic, suitable for bedtime reading, rainy afternoons, or moments when you, too, find yourself wandering through the fog.
HEDGEHOG IN THE FOG | By Sergey Kozlov and Yuri Norstein, illustrated by Francesca
Yarbusova | Rovakada Publishing | 48 pages | ISBN-13: 978-0984586707
By John Louis Koenig
