The Gnats of Knotty Pine

This is cute and fun book. Some adults simply cannot comprehend that a four year old is not going to have this story read to them and then the first thing that pops into their head is "oh wow, a squirrel just pointed a gun at a man so i guess i can do it too, now where can i get a gun". Come on for goodness sake. They simply love the animals and the humor of the story. Now for the second thing. Some people or maybe hunters i should say are offended by Bill Peets portrayal of hunters. Well i have something to say to you. IT'S A KIDS BOOK. If your that easily offended i would hate to have a grown-up conversation with you for fear of my life. And just so you know I am a hunter also, so i certainly do not have a negetive oppinion about hunters. My point is that this is a good book as long as you can fight the urge to read between the lines and assume there are messages there that aren't. Read it to your kids, let them enjoy their innocence while it's there.

I am shocked at the nasty reviews of this book. Bill Peet is known for his environmentally friendly books and they're hardly "disguised", thinly or otherwise. Those who are looking for something else should seek out other authors (there are certainly a near limitless number of children's authors). I read this book when I was wee old and loved it as I loved his others (farewell to shady glade, whump world, etc.). I think Farewell to Shady Glade is the best, but this book is fun too. Do not overlook this book for fear of its "biased" view on hunting. The fact is, these hunters come to hunt the animals. In this book the animals have been anthropomorphosized (like many children's stories) and do not want to be killed. Let's face it, hunting, which is anyone's right within its legal bounds, is killing animals. Instead of passing judgement, be honest: some humans kill animals while hunting, for better or for worse. I'm sure most children, like myself now (and 20+ years ago as a child), eat dead animals, aka meat, and so can learn to appreciate how humans impact and interact with the world. I suppose the offended readers of this book would have preferred the animals to knowingly sacrifice some of themselves for the hunters' sport?! I don't know one child that would have read that plot line and not scratched their head. This book is a simple story about how knats, rejected by the animals for their annoying swarming, save the day, preventing the hunters from holding their hunt, by, ironically, swarming around the hunters. In the end the knats become the best friends of the animals because of how they helped the animals. That's it!

This was a really good book. I really enojoyed how heroic the Gnats were to protect the animals, even though the moose blew them away with his nose. It also gave me a sense of excitememnt when the hunters ran away from my hero the squirl.