Melanie Watt
Kids Can Press (2008)
ISBN 9781554532254
Reviewed by Conner (age 4) and Mom for Reader Views (3/08)
Scaredy Squirrel is frightened of a lot of things: crowds, seagulls, and jellyfish. He wants to experience the tranquil getaway of his own beach, but he is missing things to make it real. So he embarks on a mission to go to the beach and bring back the objects he needs to make his own beach feel like a real getaway. Of course, no adventure goes exactly as planned, even with Scaredy’s extreme talent in plan and map making.
“Do you think that the squirrel should be scared?”
“No, he made plans. Though he was scared of seagulls, jellyfish, coconuts, lobsters, pirate ships and sea monsters.”
“Are you scared of them?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I can just hit them.”
“Do you like the beach?”
“Not very much, because I don’t like sharks.”
“Do you think it’s important to make plans?”
“Yes, because you could get lost. Let’s make a map Mommy.”
“Why do you think he was scared?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think he was scared because he doesn’t know what things are?”
“No! I’m not scared of anything.”
Then we proceeded to make our own map.
Parent’s comments:
“Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach” is a very humorous book about problem solving and handling contingencies. I liked that it took a relatively simple event, going to the beach, and broke it down into steps and ideas that probably occur naturally to an adult, but could be very important detail in the mind of a young child. It was also inspiring to us to make our own plans and detailed maps.
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