Dead Sea Squirrels 02 – Boy Meets Squirrels

Mike Nawrocki's Boy Meets Squirrels is a silly school story for 6 year olds about two very, very old squirrels who wake up in a boy's bedroom.

What happens

Michael came home from a summer trip to the Dead Sea with a souvenir. Two squirrels, stiff as boards and crusty with salt, which he's posed on his dresser like action figures. (Gross, says his best friend Justin.)

Then the rain blows in through the window. And the squirrels wake up!

Merle and Pearl are married, they can talk, and they have no idea where they are. Merle thinks the toilet is a magic bowl that keeps refilling itself with fresh water. Pearl can't believe how much food gets thrown away at school, so she stuffs a whole bin bag with leftover chicken nuggets.

Meanwhile Michael has a problem. Edgar is the biggest kid at school, and on the first day of fifth grade he hangs Michael and Justin from the climbing frame by their pants.

Michael wants revenge. BIG revenge, with a rope, a tree and a bin full of slimy goo.

This is where the squirrels come in. Pearl remembers a teacher speaking to a crowd on a hillside by the Sea of Galilee, long ago. She passes on what he said about treating other people the way you'd like to be treated. Will Michael listen? Well, he's not keen.

It's worth knowing this is a Christian series. The squirrels share lessons they heard first-hand, and a friend later finds the same words in her Bible. It's gentle and it fits the story, but it's a big part of what the book is about.

The chapters are super short, and there's a lot of shouting in capitals and screaming (from the squirrels and the children). It's a great fit for a newly confident reader, or for reading aloud with all the AHHHHHs.

If you've got a child who's been picked on and wanted to get their own back, it's a friendly way to talk about it without a lecture.

What to read next

If they want more of Merle and Pearl, Nutty Study Buddies is the next one, with Pearl trying to help Michael get through a maths test.