Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear

Looking for a smart, funny, verbal frenzy to delight school-age audiences? This one is a MUST DO! Reading it with carte blanche playfulness a la "Southrin' Stah-yle" you will have as much FUN reading this one aloud as any of your listeners. Don't forget to glance up now and then to see all the twinkling eyes. I read this two years ago and maybe stunned the 1st graders into silence with the roaring of the bear but the 3rd grade today quickly piped in the chorus of "...EAT...YOU... UP!!" (heavy emphasis on the "puh!") Dare I say more fun than sharing the stories of Brer' Rabbit? Same vein, but updated/smarter/slicker with Kesey's savvy vocabulary. (4.9 AR level - or, "fourth grade, ninth month" for independent readers). Anyone who loves language, acting, humorous moral tales will LOVE this one.

The illustrations are drop-dead gorgeous but the story really steals the show. My husband and I are always quoting from this one--"and then I'm gonna DRINK SOME BUTTERMILK!" I love the dialect and the wonderful similies ("like an elevator up a greasy groove"). Can't wait to have kids so I can read it to them.

I loved reading this book to kids in the library. It has tons of great adjectives. It's full of fun and keeps kids guessing as to 'what will happen next?' I want to own this book!

"Tricker the Squirrel" is a wonderful story for young and old alike. I was lucky enough to read the book years ago and came across a videotaped performance of Kesey's rendition that is equally wonderful. When the holidays come around and I get to spend time with my young nephews and niece, it is one of my favorite stories to read. It gives me a chance to open up with fun inerpretations of the characters. The kids love it and they love to take their turns too being "Big Double", "Little Tricker" and the various others that get eaten by Big Double.

Sometimes, like now when I'm offered the opportunity to be the "first person to review this book," I think I must be the only person who has ever read this book. What a shame! With all the drivel out there that passes for children's literature, this book is probably just plain the most FUN to read out loud to your kid before he or she goes to bed at night. The dialect is laugh out loud FUNNY, the story moves along briskly, and by the way, did I mention that it was a lot of FUN? Ask my three sons -- in fact, I was wrong -- I'm not the only person to have read this book; each of my sons has picked it up on his own once he could read independently. A top choice. By the way, I loved Sometimes A Great Notion, too, but it's too long to read to my kids in one night.