Scaredy Squirrel

sunray - A third-person beginner to the Scaredy Squirrel series, Scaredy Squirrel is a great book for light reading, or for beginners in literature. The setting alone - that is to say, respectively, Scaredy Squirrel's nut tree, sets the plot structure, in which Scaredy must overcome his fears and come outside in order to rescue his beloved safety kit. A heartwarming picture book that shows young ones that maybe the unknown is inevitable but rewarding, this modern fable popularized Watt's other works, such as "Have I Got a Book for You?," "Chester," and the follow-ups in the collection, plus his Halloween and Christmas guides. I loved this book because of its humorous moral and simplistic graphics, and would encourage all critter-lovers, be them toddlers or tweens, but NOT GREEN MARTIANS, to read this Melanie Watt wonder.

March 13, 2006
It's an indication of how well Watt (Leon the Chameleon
) knows her helicopter-parented audience that she's able to turn the phrase "antibacterial soap" into a bona fide punchline. Fearing attack by Martians, sharks, poison ivy, killer bees, tarantulas and/or germs, Scaredy Squirrel decides "he'd rather stay in his safe and familiar tree than risk venturing out into the unknown." But just in case something goes awry, this most anxious rodent also has an extensive emergency kit that includes sardines (to distract the sharks), the aforementioned antibacterial soap and a parachute. Then one day, Scaredy's unvarying and admittedly boring routine is thrown for a loop (it's the emergency kit's fault), and he discovers he's a flying squirrel—an epiphany so momentous that it garners the book's only gatefold spread. Will Scaredy's life be changed forever now that new vistas have opened up to him? Well, sort of. Watt largely dispenses with conventional visual storytelling; instead, she tells the hero's story through a series of boldly graphic and endearingly goofy charts and diagrams (one outlines the anxious rodent's "top secret," four-option plan for exiting the tree in case of emergency). Funny in their own right, the pages also spoof all the sincerely inane worksheets that are the staple of elementary school homework. Youngsters will go nuts over this one. Ages 4-8.

May 1, 2006
Gr. 1-3. In a tongue-in-cheek tale that may help to prod anxious readers out of their hidebound routines, a squirrel discovers the pleasures of leaping into the unknown. As the world's a scary place, what with the killer bees, green Martians, tarantulas, germs, and sharks that might be lurking about, Scaredy Squirrel keeps to his tree, and to a precise, minute-by-minute daily schedule--until a supposed "killer bee" actually wanders by, causing Squirrel to dislodge his suitcase-size emergency kit. A wild lunge to rescue it turns into a long glide (portrayed in a gatefold), as Squirrel discovers to his astonishment that he is a flying squirrel. Eventually, Squirrel returns in triumph to his tree and from then on adds a daily glide to his accustomed rounds. Despite the simply drawn cartoons and brief text, this is more sophisticated in tone than Martin Waddell's " Tiny's Big Adventure" (2004), though the message is similar. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)