Those Darn Squirrels Fly South
Written by Adam Rubin
Illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
Old Man Fookwire is a grump! Even though he lives near a beautiful forest full of birds and amazing nature animals, he always finds something to grumble about. From clouds being too fluffy to blossoms smelling too sweet, there always seems to be something wrong with even the most perfect days. However, he does find himself enjoying summertime, spending most of his time painting the colorful birds who often visit his backyard. Sometimes, however, the squirrels get in the way of his paintings and ruin his pictures by painting themselves to which Old Man Fookwire will shout, “those darn squirrels!”.
When winter sets in and the birds fly south for the winter, Fookwire has to endure the cold winter without the beautiful birds, but with the squirrels that do everything from playing ping pong to launching a flying machine.
The story then depicts how Fookwire misses the birds so much that he sets out on an adventure to find them. In the meantime, he learns how to cut loose and enjoy himself and comes to the conclusion that “those darn squirrels” aren’t so bad after all.
Second grade readers will be very entertained by this book. They will love the hilarious illustrations of the antics of the squirrels along with the picture of Old Man Fookwire shaking his fist at them stating “those darn squirrels!”. When used as a read aloud, children will laugh at the illustrations and the way the birds and squirrels take on human like characteristics when they are making a phone call and having a party on the beach.
This book is written by Adam Rubin who has been a children’s author since 2008 and has collaborated on two other books with the illustrator, Daniel Salmieri, which include, Those Darn Squirrels and the Cat Next Door and Dragons Love Tacos.
The illustrator, Daniel Salmieri, is also an artist and lives in Brooklyn, New York. His web site is www.danielsalmieri.com.
Title: Those Darn Squirrels Fly South- Author: Adam Rubin
- Illustrator: Daniel Salmieri
- Publisher: Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Reviewer: Rebecca L. Wagner
- Hardback: 32 pages
- ISBN: 978-1-4677-0316-1
- Genre: Fiction-Animals
