1. Porcupine or Keta͞͞emiw By Amy Jensen College of Menominee Nation Sacred Little Ones Initiative

2. Porcupines are animals.

4. Porcupines have sharp quills.

6. Quills help keep porcupines safe.

8. Porcupines have claws.

10. Porcupines live in our forest.

12. Porcupines climb trees.

14. Porcupines eat twigs, plants, fruit, and bark.

16. They do not eat meat.

18. Porcupine’s front teeth are always growing.

20. Porcupines have tiny eyes.

22. Porcupines are very awesome animals!

24. Background Information: The clipart of the porcupine and tea cup found on every page shows the relative size of a porcupine in relation to the size of a tea cup. Quills help keep the porcupine safe from animals and things that would hurt it. They protect the porcupine. Quills also keep them warm and help them float in the water. Quills are very important to the porcupine. If another animal gets too close to the porcupine, it’s quills stand up and stick into the skin of the predator. It hurts the predator, but keeps the porcupine safe. Porcupines grow new quills to replace the ones they lose. How big does a porcupine get? A porcupine’s body grows to be between 2 and 3 feet long. They weigh between 12 and 35 pounds. The biggest dangers for porcupines are falling out of trees and getting hit by cars. A female porcupine can have up to four babies at one time!

25. Background Information: A baby porcupine is called a porcupette If another animal gets too close to the porcupine, it’s quills stand up and stick into the skin of the predator. It hurts the predator, but keeps the porcupine safe. Reports from the Wisconsin DNR estimated that Porcupine is pronounced, “ Information for this book was acquired from: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/porcupine/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupine

26. Author Biography Amy Jensen lives in Gresham, Wisconsin, with her husband and four children. She loves books, especially children’s books, and began her own collection long before she was even a mother. She is excited to begin her career in teaching and hopes you enjoy her porcupine picture book.