Earl the Squirrel

My granddaughter Katie LOVES this book especially the part where Earl's mother tells him she wants to speak to him. She laughs every time I read that part to her. I love that all of the illustrations are in black & white except for the red scarf! What a contrast! It really makes the book unique! A great story for every child to read!!!Everyone should have a copy of this book in their home!!!!

I bought this book simply for the artwork in it, but the story is just as good. My daughter loves to look at the pictures in this book, they are very well done and extremely artistic. I love children's pictures books, and the illustrations in this one are some of the best available.

If there is something familiar about the way "Earl the Squirrel" is drawn, that is simply because he is the creation of Don Freeman, the writer-artist of the classic picture book "Corduroy." So inside you will find the familiar black & white scratchboard art of Freeman, with a touch of red here and there for Earl's scarf and for the eyes of a particularly large and unhappy animal that Earl encounters. The situation is that early one autumn morning a mother gray squirrel sits down her young son, Earl, and tells him, "It is high time you went out and learned how to find acorns on your own." Now, Earl does not know much about gathering acorns so he goes to visit his friend Jill, a young girl who lives in the house near the tree where Earl lives with his mother. Jill not only gives him an acorn that she has been saving, but a nutcracker to help him open it. So Earl proudly goes back to his mother, eager to show her what he has found, but she takes one look at him, sits him down in the hole in the tree where they live, and informs Earl that he is not about to become the most spoiled squirrel in the world. Earl returns the nutcracker (but not the acorn), but Jill has another present; a red scarf that he wears around his neck. This does not go over with his mother either. Earl knows that his mother is right and that he has to learn to go out and find acorns on his own, so he goes out in the middle of the night, armed only with this new red scarf, to do just that. It is a long cold night and when Earl finally finds an oak tree with plenty of acorns it turns out his red scarf is a liability. Fortunately, Earl is a lucky little squirrel, and the moral of Freeman's should be clear to his young readers even if he only shows the point and does not tell them. Earl is able to return in triumph, but it is the last two pages and what Earl does on each of them that help drive the message home. Freeman died in 1978, well known for his illustrated children's books from "Corduroy" and "A Pocket for Corduroy" to "Gregory's shadow" and "Fly High, Fly Low." "Earl the Squirrel" is a rediscovered, never-before-published book, aimed at young readers age 3 and up, and fans of his work can only rejoice that over a quarter-century latter these pages were found. Freeman had submitted the work to Viking, which had published "Corduroy," but they already had a book about a squirrel in their pipeline and they apparently forgot they were rejecting a children's book by Don Freeman. Fortunately, Freeman's son, Roy, found the manuscript for "Earl," along with a great deal of artwork, while making an inventory of his father's work for the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota. This time Viking was able to put together a completed book, although they ended up not using all of the artwork, and for all of those fans who wished there was another Don Freeman book to enjoy, now they have this wonderful little tale.

Countless fans who enjoyed the classic Corduroy books by Caldecott Honoree Don Freeman know that youngsters will be equally attracted to Earl the Squirrel. Freeman's illustrations are as fresh and appealing as ever in this story of the little squirrel whose mother said, "Earl, It is high time you went out and learned to find acorns on your own." Earl agreed with his mother and he wanted to make her proud of him, but he didn't have the faintest idea where he was going to find any acorns. He immediately ran over to see Jill. She's a good friend who gifted him with a large acorn and a nutcracker. When Earl returned to his tree home proudly bearing the acorn and nutcracker his mother was not at all impressed. She guessed that Jill had given these things to him, and told him how ridiculous it was for a squirrel to have a nutcracker. She ordered him to take that nutcracker right back. Always generous, Jill had another gift for him - a bright red scarf to keep his ears warm. He zoomed home as fast as he could to show his mother his new scarf. Again, she was sorely disappointed to think that any furry self-respecting squirrel would need a scarf to keep him warm. Poor Earl, it seems that he can't do anything to please his mother - least of all find acorns. He spent the entire cold night searching for acorns. Finally, exhausted he sought refuge in a hollow tree only to be chased off by an angry owl. However, the owl did tell him the location of a huge acorn tree. Earl sped off and was so excited to find the tree full of acorns that he didn't notice the enormous bull snoozing beneath it. Well, you know what happens when bulls see red! All's well that ends well in this cheery story of a little squirrel who must learn how to get along in the world. - Gail Cooke