Squirrel and Bird [Hardcover]

Squirrel and Bird are best friends, but they're very different. Squirrel is LOUD. Bird is quiet. Squirrel is confident. Bird is shy. And that’s all there is to know about them...or is it?

This eye-opening book for children ages 3-7 celebrates the wonderful variety of traits that make us who we are.

Squirrel and Bird are the best of friends, but they're very different. Squirrel is loud, busy, and the life of the party. Bird is quiet and shy--but is that all there is to them? This eye-opening, thought-provoking story encourages us to embrace the wonderful variety of traits that make us who we are, and challenge the reductive labels others may place upon us.In this inspired tale of metafiction, best friends Squirrel and Bird get ready for a concert, with the help—and hindrance—of a meddling narrator. Offering condescending and reductive characterizations of both creatures, the unseen narrator immediately rouses Bird’s ire. Squirrel is “loud! Very LOUD!” Bird, on the other hand, “hardly makes a sound at all.” “Squirrel is busy. Busy, busy, busy!” But Bird “prefers to sit and do nothing.” Bird chafes at these flattening descriptions—all of which contradict what’s actually going on in the illustrations as the two animals cheerfully prepare for their performance. As the event draws closer, the narrator lays it on thick (“Squirrel is confident. Bird is shy”) until finally Bird has had “ENOUGH!” and proclaims that all creatures are far more multifaceted than they might appear. Chastened, the narrator agrees: “Bird is a LOT of things. And Squirrel is, too!” Baker’s minimal text is ably supported by Thomas’ muted artwork. Featuring grays and warm yellows, the images evoke the feeling of a classiclÃÐ