The Busy Little Squirrel

Fall is my favorite season. I love the weather, the trees, and the way everything feels crisp and beautiful. The cover of The Busy Little Squirrel jumped out at me from the new books section of Thomas Hughes right away. The warm colors, the playful squirrel, and that it was obviously about Fall all worked together to make the book seem inviting and fun to read.

The story is simple: Winter is quickly approaching and the little squirrel has so much to do to get ready! All the while, his friends ask him if he wants to partake in their fall activities. No matter how much he might like to nibble pumpkins with the mice, hop rocks with the frogs, or watch the moon with the owls, he has way too much preparing to do so he can be safe and comfortable all Winter long.

This is a very nice book for introducing young children to the seasonal change of Summer to Winter. It gives beautiful insight into the behavior of animals and shows in brilliant colors the changes of nature in each of its pictures. The pictures look to be created with ink and colored pencils with touches of paint. The book is full of gorgeous browns, oranges, reds, blues, and greens. Overall it is a very comforting and cozy color palette which fits the theme of Fall perfectly.

The pictures are deep with detail and include interesting things to investigate in the foreground and background which makes this book ideal for story time and repeat readings. In each picture, the squirrel is collecting various goods to store for winter. The pictures all have a quality of motion to them as the squirrel is never still and always working hard to gather food. In the last pane, he is asleep in his tree hollow surrounded with all the goods he harvested in his preparations for hibernation which allows for a fun run down of all the places the squirrel ventured to in his busy time.

The Busy Little Squirrel is an easy inclusion in a fall reading program for younger children and could even work on a picture book list of stories about animal behavior. The book talks about mice, birds, toads, cats, dogs, and owls in addition to the squirrel which makes it a diverse addition that is sure to please young animal lovers. Because of the beautiful pictures and interactive aspects of the drawings and story, it is also a great choice for a read aloud book for early reader or preschool classrooms as well.