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Synopsis
In this next nutty installment in the Scaredy Squirrel series, Scaredy needs a vacation from his tree-bound routine — can his homemade beach take the place of the real thing?
Children's Literature
Humor abounds in this tale about Scaredy's adventure to the beach. Formatted as a thirty-two-page book, the author pulls in the audience with a dynamic first page that calls for more. The premise is that Scaredy will build his own beach to keep from going to a real one that has animals and other things he is afraid of. He creates a guide for building a beach that includes materials and specific directions. A two-page spread features Scaredy lolling around after he completes his beach. The "fake" beach is missing the sound of the ocean, so Scaredy gets braver and plans a trip to the real beach. He makes elaborate plans for the trip, including a passport, map, time line, clothing, and means of travel. However, once at the beach he discovers something he had not thought about—crowds of people! His solution is to play dead. After two hours, he has been covered with sand and decorated by little beach-goers. He then realizes joining the beach crowd is not so bad. After returning home he adds a crowd by using gnome figures and the sound of the beach by using a souvenir shell, to his own beach. Amusing cartoonlike illustrations add to the text and the busyness of the illustrations calls for several reads. Some pages resemble those from a Richard Scarry book because they offer the reader opportunity for searching for many things. This fun book will keep kids laughing while teaching the lesson that fears can be overcome. Reviewer: Nancy Garhan Attebury