Earl the Squirrel
PreSchool-Grade 2–A posthumous publication of a manuscript by the creator ofCorduroy(Viking, 1968). Earl's mother thinks that his friend Jill (a little girl) is spoiling her son when she gives him an acorn, a nutcracker, and her doll's red scarf, so Earl sets out to prove that he can find acorns on his own. The red scarf becomes a sack, a hat, and a bullfighter's cape, and the young squirrel comes back with a harvest of acorns and returns the scarf. The scarlet scarf leaps out of Freeman's otherwise black-and-white scratchboard illustrations. The pictures are full of energy and detail, and Earl is both cheeky and endearing. Kids will laugh when Conrad the bull gets stuck in the tree as Earl indignantly and fearlessly snatches the precious scarf from his horns, only to be plonked on the head by an acorn. The story is gentle, innocent, and funny, and although it was written many years ago, Freeman's ability to capture the artless adventures of childhood is of the moment.–Jane Barrer, formerly at Washington Square Village Creative Steps, New York CityCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.