Squirrel's Fun Day

K-Gr 2—Beginning readers will enjoy spending the day with "busy, busy, busy" Squirrel. Although Mouse intends to clean her nest, she sets off with Squirrel after he "sweeps, sweeps, sweeps" her nesting materials and food. As they are playing, she falls into a mud hole and Squirrel rescues her with a long blade of grass. He engages Turtle in a race around the pond, but becomes frustrated with Turtle's slow pace. Squirrel is surprised to discover that Turtle can swim faster than he can run. Next, he coaxes Rabbit to have "fun, fun, fun" on the way to the tree where he always eats lunch. Rabbit insists on leaving a pebble trail so he can find his way home, but his plan doesn't work this time. Later Squirrel picks flowers to present to his friends as a gesture of thanks for their company, but when they are nowhere to be found, he wonders if they may not have enjoyed the day's activities as much as he did. Readers will enjoy the surprise awaiting him. Squirrel's repetitive speech patterns reinforce his character and give newer readers some relief decoding this fun-filled drama. The expressive pen-and-watercolor illustrations in varied layouts are perfectly placed with the text. A great, great, great addition to delight fans of Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad Are Friends (HarperCollins, 1970) and Wong Herbert Yee's Upstairs Mouse, Downstairs Mole (Houghton Mifflin, 2005).—Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI