Be careful what you wish fur...
Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure is the first of Bill Peet's series of children's books.
Hubert, a proud lion, ends up burning his mane off by accident. Eager to help, his friend the elephant goes to the crocodile for some tears to help re-grow Hubert's hair. Unfortunately, the trick works a little too well.
This book includes examples of the following tropes:
- Anime Hair: When the baboon comes to trim Hubert's out-of-control mane, he ends up cutting it into a rectangle shape. Hubert enjoys the new look, saying he always wanted to stand out.
- Baldness Angst: Hubert ends up catching his mane on fire. Though he manages to extinguish himself, he's left bald except for minor stubble. Humiliated, he hides in the long grass.
- Double-Meaning Title: Overlapping with Pun-Based Title; the phrase "hair-raising" refers to the problems Hubert's new mane creates as well as to the fact that the adventure centers around raising more hair on his head.
- Gone Horribly Right: The crocodile tears definitely regrow Hubert's mane...but it grows out of control, burying him and the other animals in mounds of lion hair and requiring a lot of trimming.
- Honorable Elephant: The elephant is the most helpful of Hubert's friends. While the zebra remembers that crocodile tears might help re-grow the mane, he doesn't want to go get them, and neither do the others. The elephant ends up doing the whole thing himself.
- I Have to Go Iron My Dog: When they refuse to go see the crocodile to help Hubert regrow his mane, the other animals make all kinds of excuses, including one who complains of a sprained toe. The elephant obviously doesn't believe them and recognizes he'll have to do the job by himself.
- Impossible Task: At first, getting crocodile tears doesn't seem difficult, just dangerous. However, when the elephant arrives, the crocodile tells him he never cries. He ends up proving himself wrong when he cries tears of hilarity after the elephant explains why he wants the tears.
- Never Trust a Hair Tonic: The zebra notes that crocodile tears might help Hubert regrow his mane. Getting them proves enough of a problem...and then the tears cause the mane to grow so long so fast that it winds around Hubert and the other animals. They have to call a baboon with some shears to cut them loose.
- Unable to Cry: It's uncertain whether he thinks he can't, but the crocodile tells the elephant that he doesn't ever cry, even when the situation might seem to warrant it. He can cry with laughter, though.
