Book Review: Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas, Mélanie Watt's Scaredy Squirrel Series Title 8

The preface describes Scaredy as:

• avoiding consulting the guide around bathtubs, germs, killer bees, monsters, vampire bats, volcanoes;
• disliking danger, eye contact, germs, paper cuts, unknown;
• liking fire extinguishers, fire-retardant clothes, fire-roasted nuts, hard hats, rubber gloves, safety goggles and kits;
• pondering horoscopes, with his sign Libra of September 23 to October 23 weighing gift-giving cons and pros; and
• quizzing readers panicking over decorations, fruit cakes, germs, holidays, reindeer, snow, trees.

Chapter #1 encourages training for:

• budgeting by weighing piggy banks;
• crafting by finger-stretching;
• eating sweets by flossing;
• focusing by checking vision;
• singing by taking lessons;
• standing in lines by tread-milling, weight-lifting; and
• surviving germs and snowstorms with anti-bacterial soap, chamomile tea, hockey helmets, soup, St. Bernard.  

Chapter #2 furnishes information on decorations with:

• crafting paper chains with rounded scissors;
• donning football helmets against falling ornaments, mittens against paper cuts, painter’s suits against messes;
• knitting Christmas stockings; and
• selecting non-poisonous, non-real berries, rounded ornaments, and solar-powered lights.

Chapter #3 gives convenience ratings of:

• candy canes;
• Christmas logs;
• fruit cakes, which are long-lasting and re-giftable; and
• gingerbread houses.

It also has suggestions about setting up sweets tables accessed by traffic flow-directing safety cones; covered by green-and-red plaid tablecloths; inimical to double-dipping; and laden with guest toothbrushes, hand-wipes, napkins, round-edged cutlery.

Chapter #4 indicates that perfect gift-giving matches presents with personalities:

• elusive;
• friendly, funny;
• grumpy;
• hairy, hard-headed;
• mystical;
• outdoorsy;
• scaredy, sensitive, silent;
• transparent;
• uptight; and
• workaholic. 

Chapter #5 judges as welcoming Santa’s Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Dancer, Dasher, Donner, Prancer, Rudolph, and Vixen air conditioning, cookies and milk, poinsettias, unlighted fireplaces, and welcome mats.

Chapter #6 keeps off gift-giving:

• anything beeping, rattling, tick-tocking;
• coal lumps;
• Jack-in-the-boxes;
• present-packed bags, stockings; and
• robots.

Chapter #7 lists as critical -- after manners -- to set-up and take-down:

• coasters;
• fire extinguishers;
• ocean-sounding music discouraging scuffed floors and upended furniture; and
• plastic furniture covers.

Chapter #8 mentions playing dead snow-angels.

So Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas nudges four-year-olds to eight-year-olds, pre-kindergarteners to third-graders into culturally enriching educational entertainment with: 

• Kids Can Press Ltd.; 
• Paramount Printing Co. Ltd.; 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 Squirrel (Glaucomys volans) on nightly visit for suet
Southside, Etowah county, northeastern Alabama: MimiMiaPhotography, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southern_flying_squirrel.jpg

a Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) in the branches of a Red Maple (Acer rubrum) tree
Caldwell County, northwestern North Carolina: Ken Thomas, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southern_Flying_Squirrel-27527-1.jpg

Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans) young'un
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)_(1).jpg

Southern Flying Squirrels (Glaucomys volans) enjoy a nocturnal life style.
Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, northeastern Ohio: laszlo-photo', CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flying_squirrel.jpg

a Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) in the branches of a Red Maple (Acer rubrum) tree
Caldwell County, northwestern North Carolina: Ken Thomas, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southern_Flying_Squirrel-27527-2.jpg

Watt, Mélanie. 2013. Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas. Scaredy Squirrel Series Title #8. Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Tonawanda, NY, USA: Kids Can Press.