Dead Sea Squirrels 01 – Squirreled Away

Mike Nawrocki's Squirreled Away is a giggly first chapter book for 6 year olds about a boy who smuggles two very old, very crusty squirrels home from his holiday.

What happens

Michael and his best friend Justin are spending the summer in a tent by the Dead Sea, where his dad is digging up ancient pottery. On their very last day, Michael spots something odd on a ledge in a cave.

His dad has told him NEVER to go into a cave without a guide. So of course Michael sneaks back in, all by himself, in the middle of the night. What could go wrong? (Quite a lot, as it happens.) There are bats, a broken torch and a very long time lost in the dark.

What he's found up on that ledge are two squirrels, dried out and covered in salt. Justin thinks they're disgusting. Michael thinks they're the best souvenir ever. And somehow they have to get through airport security, a bumpy flight and a nosy man in sunglasses without anyone noticing.

It's properly funny for this age. Michael picks cave pebbles out of his nose and swallows one by accident. Justin comes out in hives if he's less than half an hour early for anything. And the narrator keeps chatting to the reader. If you can't find the Middle East, you're told, just take a right at the Mediterranean.

The chapters are really short, so it's great for a child who's just starting on proper chapter books, or for reading a chapter or two at bedtime. Some are only a few lines long.

There's also a little trip back in time to meet the squirrels themselves, Merle and Pearl, floating in the Dead Sea on holiday. Merle is the one who never thinks things through, and Pearl is the one who tells him so.

Worth mentioning for some families, it's a gently Christian book. Michael says his prayers, his dad talks about honouring your father and mother, and Pearl quotes the Bible too. It's woven in lightly, but it's definitely there.

What to read next

If your reader loves a boy who's always one bad idea away from trouble, they'll love Michael. And if they want to see what happens next with those souvenirs, the second book, Boy Meets Squirrels, is in the library too.