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Elementary Grades FictionREVIEWERS: Alida Allison* denotes San Diego writer and/or illustrator
Hurwitz, Johanna. Squirrel World.
Illus. Kathi McCord. San Francisco: Chronicle,
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It’s Spring in Central Park, time for Pee-Wee the guinea pig and his family to return to Central Park from wintering in the zoo. Immediately they are greeted by Lexington, the squirrel who originally befriended and protected Pee-Wee, who would surely not have survived in Central Park without his help. No sooner, though, do the guinea pig and his family get resettled than Lexington is off, a bit unwillingly, with his cousin Lenox on a lark to explore the Manhattan streets after which they are named. Not easy being a squirrel on the loose in a big city: there are scary adventures in that BIG hole in the ground, the subway and several disappointments, such as finding out that Bloomingdale’s, which they hear as “Blooming Vales,” is not at all a verdant paradise for hungry squirrels. Finally, they are caught by people and wind up in a department store window, put there to call attention to the display. How will they get out and return to the lovely grass and trees of Central Park? Is it possible that the ASCPA and maybe several hundred squirrels can get them freed? As in the other books in the series, Hurwitz’s delightful humor and dialog, along with a swift plot in which friendship and family succeed in restoring animals to their right places, makes this addition to the series another agreeable read for youngsters. A. Allison |
