Dead Sea Squirrels 03 – Nutty Study Buddies

Mike Nawrocki's Dead Sea Squirrels Nutty Study Buddies is a funny chapter book for 6 year olds about a boy, a maths test and two very, very old squirrels.

What happens

Michael brought Merle and Pearl home from a cave by the Dead Sea. They're two thousand years old, they can talk, and they're hiding in his bedroom. Nobody except his two best friends knows.

Michael has a maths test coming up. His dad sticks ten dollars to the fridge as a reward for a B. The trouble is Michael would rather do almost anything than study. He juggles his football. He lies on his bed. He goes roller-skating.

Pearl, on the other hand, turns out to love maths. While Michael's at school she reads his whole textbook, working out fractions with two halves of a walnut. Merle goes house-hunting through the air vents and pops up in Michael's little sister's room, right next to Mr Nemesis the cat. Cue feathers everywhere (and a cat stuck head first in the floor).

Guess what happens when you go skating the night before a test instead of revising?

Merle is the one who'll make your reader giggle. He thinks the toilet is a magic water bowl that keeps refilling itself. He sneaks off to rescue "lost and lonely" chicken nuggets from the school dinner hall. He wins 150 tickets at Skee-Ball and wipes away a tear of joy. Pearl is the sensible one who keeps him out of trouble, mostly.

Parents will want to know this is a Christian series. The squirrels lived in Bible times and share what they learned there. In this book Pearl tells the story of Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, about the people who stopped working. The lesson is that hard work pays off, and it's woven into the story rather than bolted on.

The chapters are short and snappy, and the narrator chats to you in little jokes along the way. There's even a mystery man in a suit and sunglasses who keeps turning up.

What to read next

If your reader has only just met Merle and Pearl, Squirreled Away goes back to the cave where Michael and Justin get lost and spot something odd on a high ledge.