Book Review: Scaredy Squirrel Has a Birthday by Mélanie Watt, in Scaredy Squirrel Series Title 5

The mailman deposits birthday greetings from Buddy. Scaredy extends an invitation to Buddy, whose fur-washing occurs other than at 1:00 p.m. on October 3. He fixes the party's location groundward by: 

• building a house of cards for party-stomping Bigfoot; 
• detouring picnic-minded ants with cookie trails; 
• discouraging trick-happy clownfish with Ludwig van Beethoven's (December 17, 1770 - March 26, 1827) serious-looking statue; 
• donning earmuffs and safety goggles against balloon-popping porcupines; 
• renting a confetti-friendly party tent; and 
• suspending a carrot-baited fishing rod from an oak tree (Quercus spp). 

He goes over acceptable (guest associations with trees, weather) and unacceptable (bad breath mints, flea-filled paws, muskrat-like toupees) chatting and irritating behavior (break-dancing, double-dipping, overeating sweets, piñata- and raucous music-playing, using noisemakers). 

Scaredy has the 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. schedule include: 

• brown-sugared, nut-filled cake; 
• card- and domino-playing; 
• chips; 
• dip; 
• fire extinguisher; 
• germ-free sign; 
• punch; and 
• thank-you speech. 

He is so panic-stricken by Buddy's boombox-, confetti-, noisemaker-bearing party animals that he plays dead. Two hours later, he joins Buddy, Cashew, Coco, Damian, Hazel, Mack, Peanut, Pecan, Pinenut, and Pistachio, who have the one-year-old's candle lighted and elegant wood finish-framed portrait of oak tree, purple UFO, squirrel, and valentine heart gift-wrapped. He keeps the party going long enough to: 

• issue next year's 10 invitations; and 
• plan a two-year-old's bigger cake, casual wear with sneakers, dog biscuits, doggy bags, Frisbee, guest toothbrushes, hand-sanitizing dispenser, pre-memorized speech, rented porta-potties, and top-of-the-line earplugs. 

Canada's flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus, G. volans) live 14 years outside old-/second-growth forests. They mature from fall-/spring-delivered, one- to six-member litters after 40-day gestations to: 

• hearing, sight at 6 and 30 days; 
• parachuting at 8 weeks; 
• physical adulthood with bodies 8.50 - 10.55 inches (216 - 268 millimeters) long weighing 1.76 - 6.53 ounces (50 - 185 grams), tails 3.54 - 7.24 inches (90 - 184 millimeters) long; and 
• sexual adulthood at 9 months. 

So Scaredy Squirrel Has a Birthday nudges pre-kindergarteners to third-graders aged 4 to 8 years into culturally enriching, educationally entertaining adventures with: 

• Kids Can Press; 
• Karen Powers, designer; 
• Tara Walker, editor; and 
• Mélanie Watt, Potato Cut-set text's acrylic and charcoal-penciled artwork designer/jacket illustrator/writer. 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Southern Flying Squirrels belong to one of the two species of New World native flying squirrels.
Geographical distribution of the Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans)
borders of the Glaucomys volans range drawn according to IUCN Red List spatial data: Darekk2/The author of the work and the IUCN Red List spatial data, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southern_flying_squirrel_Glaucomys_volans_distribution_map.png

Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans): one of two species of New World flying squirrels, both found in Canada
Lac Notre-Dame, Montfort, Wentworth-Nord, Québec, eastern Canada: Laurent Bélanger, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Petit_polatouche_(Écureuil_volant)_(Glaucomys_volans)_(2).jpg

By eight weeks, baby New World Flying Squirrels (Glaucomys spp) have taken to the airways with parachuting movements.
A Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) is gliding.: Pratikppf at en.wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gliding_flying_squirrel.jpg

radio-collared female Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans)
red spruce (Picea rubens) stand, Whitetop Mountain, southwestern Virginia; March 4 2014: Corinne Diggins/Virginia Tech/USGS VCFWRU, Public Domain, via US Geological Survey (USGS) @ https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/carolina-northern-flying-squirrel-0

radio-collared female Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans)
red spruce (Picea rubens) stand, Whitetop Mountain, southwestern Virginia; March 17, 2014: Corinne Diggins/Virginia Tech/USGS VCFWRU, Public Domain, via US Geological Survey (USGS) @ https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/carolina-northern-flying-squirrel

Watt, Mélanie. 2011. Scaredy Squirrel Has a Birthday. Scaredy Squirrel Series Title #5. Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Tonawanda, NY, USA: Kids Can Press.