Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping

There's a squirrel camping in the tree in our backyard, but the only thing that's scaredy about him are the feelings he causes in me when I try and do work back there (he makes some pretty f'd up sounds for a little guy hovering above). 

THREE PROS
*My wife and I aren't exactly the outdoorsy type, so I was hoping when I checked this out that it would impart some love for nature in my son -- and I think it did   
*I like how Melanie Watt's checklists are a combination of things you would really want (if you were in the squirrel's position) plus a few wacky items to boot
*We all think the last image is pretty funny as far as humorous twists go

THREE CONS 
*I actually liked all of the checklists and diagrams, but my wife skipped over them when reading out loud because they required too much effort -- and I don't blame her because we all have times where TMI on a page is not worth our time 
*Our hero exhibits very little scaredy-ness at all, considering he just kind of goes for it -- if anything he's more of a creature comforts creature 
*I know part of the humor in giving the squirrel a TV for his tree is wondering how he got it there... so putting it in the tree would appear to take it one step further on the funny scale, but it causes me to think too much about the size of the hole and not enough about the rest of what is going on

ONE DAD'S OPINION

I've been sitting here for so long trying to think of a way to sum this book up, it feels like my mind has left my body to go gather nuts for the winter.  The problem is that there's really not much left to say.  Watt again delivers a strong effort that just misses stylistically or else it would be a Buy.  In other words, set up camp for a few days of outdoor adventure, but then return either it or yourself to some other location when you start to yearn for air conditioning and a comfy bed. 

BuBORROW / Donate / Destroy



1 comment:

Kevin R said...

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