At our homeschooling group's creative writing event, Olivia read a short story she wrote. She did a great job, complete with character voices. Here's her story:

One morning when I was young and sound asleep in a pocket, but not so sound asleep that the jostling and jiggling didn’t wake me up, I fell out of the pocket and landed on the cold, wet ground. I was cold, very cold, and I curled into a prickly ball.


I felt someone pulling on my prickles. I stayed curled up until I heard a voice, “What is this?”


At that, I quickly uncurled myself and said, “A hedgehog, of course, what did you think I was? Who are you and why are you pulling on my prickles?”


“Oh! Well, you see, I am a robin and I need material for my nest. I saw what I thought was a pile of perfect pine needles, so I grabbed one, and I met you. By the way, where is your nest?”


“Nest?” I said. “I don’t have a nest.”


“Too bad,” chirped the robin. “You can share my nest.”


“Great!” I answered, and off we went.


As soon as we got the nest, the robin said, “Jump on up!”


“How?” I asked.


“Just jump and flutter,” said the robin as he jumped and fluttered to a low wall and up into a tree.


“I can’t flutter! I am a hedgehog!”


“Hedgehogs don’t flutter?” asked the robin.


“No, of course not,” I answered. “We curl up into prickly balls.”


“Oh, yes,” said the robin. “I guess you can’t live with me then. Too bad.”


“Thanks anyway,” I said, and I went on my way.


I walked down a hill with a wall on one side and a fence on the other, when I saw a hole under the fence and thought it would be a good place to take a nap. I crawled in, curled up into a prickly ball, and fell asleep.


“Yeeeoooowww! What is this spiny ball doing in my tunnel?”


I opened my eyes, looked up, and saw a face peering down at me, and it wasn’t the face of a friendly robin.


“What are you doing here, you bundle of sticks? Nobody crawls into a woodchuck’s hole.”


I didn’t wait to hear any more. I scurried straight out of the hole and down the path until I saw a patch of soft dirt. I thought maybe there would be some worms in the dirt. I nosed around a bit when I heard a small, but shrill, voice.


“What do you think you are doing digging up our homes? Where are my children and I going to live now? Who are you?”


“Well,” I answered, “I am a hedgehog. Who are you?”


“I am a red-backed salamander. I should think that is obvious, or do you not use your eyes?”


“I do use my eyes. I just have never seen a salamander before, but I have seen a robin.”


“What’s that?” asked the salamander.


“Don’t you know what a robin is?” I said. “Where do you live, under a rock?”


“Yes, I do. Or I did, until you came and pushed it over with your nosing around.”


“Sorry,” I said.


“Well,” said the salamander, “I should tend to my children now and find us a new home. Good-bye.”


“Bye,” I said as I walked away.


Suddenly, huge hands picked me up, I feeling I remembered, and I was carried to a place and put in a cage. I heard a loud voice say, “Why, it’s a hedgehog! It must be somebody’s pet. I’ll put out some notices and maybe the owner will claim it.”


I had no idea what that meant, but in a few days, I was sound asleep in a pocket again.