The Secret Life of Squirrels

by Nancy Rose

Mr. Peanuts is not an ordinary squirrel. He has quite the refined life- playing the piano, baking cakes, reading from his tiny library. He mails a letter inviting his cousin to come visit, and is shown making preparations- tidying the bedroom, doing laundry and so on. When cousin squirrel arrives, the two enjoy visiting an ice-cream parlor, going on a picnic, and playing chess among other things. Mr. Peanuts is sad to see his cousin go when the visit is over- having discovered that your favorite activities are more fun when you have a friend to share them with!

The pictures in this book are just delightful- showing real life squirrels among miniature furniture and sets. I thought at first these must be tame squirrels, but it turns out they are wild animals that visit the author's backyard. She describes in the back of the book her process for taking the photographs (creating tiny sets, baiting them with peanuts, waiting for the curious squirrels to arrive and taking dozens of photographs to capture just the right pose). My kids really enjoyed this book- the youngest loved seeing a squirrel doing "people things" and her older sister spent a long time looking at the pictures, to guess how the author made all the miniature items. The author has a website too. There's an article about her work here, with more pictures.

Rating: 4/5          32  pages, 2014

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