The Secret Life of Squirrels by Nancy Rose

The Secret Life of Squirrels by Nancy Rose. Little, Brown, 2014. 32 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 4-8

Recommended for: Ages 4-8

Squirrels are ubiquitous; big cities don’t deter them, and they seem more impervious to seasonal changes than most woodland animals. While many rue the squirrel presence in their backyards, Nancy Rose seized the opportunity her many backyard squirrel visitors provided and began photographing them. Rose painstakingly crafted miniature backdrops, patiently waited for her squirrel visitors (luring them with peanuts), photographed the squirrels against their new anthropomorphic settings, and then created a storyline to go with the resulting photographs.

Rose’s creativity and patience paid off; The Secret Life of Squirrels is a delightful glimpse at what squirrels might be saying or thinking when placed in squirrel-sized human settings. The storyline is cute, but the photographs really make the book. A good question and answer series follows the story along with interesting information about how to best photograph wildlife. Try reading this book before a nature walk to help instill curiosity in the natural world. God may not have created squirrels to live in dollhouse-sized lodgings, but he certainly made them curious, and we would do well to follow suit! This book will also charm fans of books like Hank Finds an Egg.

Cautions: none

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview Rating: 4
• Artistic Rating: 4

Categories: Picture Books, Animals, 4 stars and up
Cover image from Amazon