FICTION

Aw, Nuts!

by Rob MCCLURKAN
Aw, Nuts! illus. by Rob McClurkan. 32p. HarperCollins. Sept. 2014. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780062317292.
COPY ISBN
PreS-Gr 2—Photoshop cartoons of urban life follow a toothy squirrel with a feather tail across the city in pursuit of a runaway acorn. The persistent rodent's title refrain punctuates his far-fetched challenges, from a taxi running out of gas to a truck that misguides him to Bucksnort, Tennessee. Despite being dressed as a doll at a party and having his boat spring a leak, fate rewards him. The "perfect acorn" lands in an enormous pile of nuts, turning his refrain from dismay to glee. The bounty, however, does not satisfy, for at the end, the Squirrel sees another "most delicious-looking" acorn bounce away. The flat drawings with minimal details reflect the quick pace of the morning cartoon-style story, which is appropriately speckled with onomatopoeia and brief asides by passing characters.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA
After nut-loving Squirrel's "prized acorn" bounces away, he crosses hell and high water to retrieve it. The book's unrelentingly satisfying silliness, featuring gag-filled illustrations, supports a lesson in homonyms: aspects of Squirrel's journey (losing a shoe, falling into a manhole, etc.) inspire the titular exclamation, which holds another meaning entirely when Squirrel encounters an acorn mountain and says, "AW, NUTS!"
Reviewed by Gay Lynn Van Vleck , Aug 01, 2014

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