Animals

We really liked this book. The illustrations were nice, and we learned lots about those little creatures that we were unaware of. ( )

“Squirrels” is a book that provides readers with a copious amount of information about squirrels, which many people probably are not aware of. Although this book includes beautiful watercolor pictures to go along with the text, it does not do a thorough job keeping the readers interested. For example, on page 5 it says, “Squirrels live in trees. Sometimes their home is a hole in a tree trunk.” In order to keep a child engaged in a text, they must be challenged by the information that is being presented. Asking them questions along with the information is helpful, like, “Can you name another animal that lives in a tree?” This book has interesting information, however it could be presented differently. ( )

I have a few different thoughts about this book, so I'm gonna just make a numbered list:

1. The squirrels in this book are universally red squirrels - which are native to Europe and which are endangered in England due to the ill-advised introduction of American gray squirrels there.

This may be great (if you're British), meh (if you just don't care), or unfortunate (if you were planning to use this book in a unit on squirrels as a teacher in the US). At the very least, if you're American, you'll want to tell your kids that the squirrels in the book don't live here at all. (I didn't take off or add any stars for this.)

2. The writing is a bit formal and "factual", and it might be a little long for a younger child, one who isn't school-aged yet.

In addition, it's a bit old-fashioned. It was printed in 1974, but I guess the author had never heard of gender-neutral language because all sentences run along the lines of "when a squirrel swims, as he does sometimes, he can use his tail as a sail". A more recent book would probably say "When squirrels swim, as they do sometimes...."

This writing style is awkward to me, but it's not wrong or anything like that, it's just old-fashioned. (I didn't take off any stars for this either.)

3. And the artwork is beautiful. I love it, I adore it, I think the artwork is well worth the purchase price. I may have limited use for this book, but I don't care, I love the art. So this book gets a half star for the gorgeous pictures, nudging it up to 4.5. Beautiful! ( )

Did you know that squirrels live in two-room homes in trees? That they can swim and use their tails as a sail? That when they sleep, they wrap their tails around themselves like a blanket? This picture-and-word tribute to the furry little creatures covers their everyday lives in vivid detail.