Review: Squirrel-ish

Title: Squirrel-ish
Author: Bambi Edlund
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Publisher: Owlkids
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: September 17, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

At the park, people give squirrels free peanuts. And nobody screams when a squirrel crosses their path. But for Rat, it’s all screams and no nuts … until he comes up with a plan: be more like a squirrel—squirrel-ish!

When his attempts at adopting a squirrel-ish posture and pinning his ears down don’t make a difference, Rat considers his tail. And after a few crafty but failed squirrel-ish tail prototypes made from cotton balls, feathers, and spaghetti, he lands on a winning material: straw from a broom!

Finally, Rat can walk through the park without getting shooed. Free peanut in hand, he daydreams about building a re-tail empire … until the dogs in the park spot him and give chase. All of a sudden, Rat understands why squirrels do so much scampering! Maybe his rat tail isn’t so bad after all …

Brightly illustrated and packed with hilarious details and hidden gags, this laugh-out-loud ode to self-love reminds readers that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

Review:

This rat wants to be liked as much as the squirrels in the park. People scream and run away when they see him, but when they see squirrels, they’re given peanuts. The rat figures out that it’s the squirrel’s fluffy tail that makes them more likeable so he tries to give himself a bigger tail. However, he will find out that not everyone loves the squirrels.

This is such a cute picture book! I’m scared of rats, but not squirrels, and I do think it has to do with their tails. The fluffy squirrel tails make them more appealing and friendly looking. However, this story teaches that even though squirrels are more well liked by people, other animals don’t like them. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

Squirrel-ish is a cute picture book!

Thank you Owlkids for providing a digital copy of this book!

Have you read Squirrel-ish? What did you think of it?