First of all Hazel Nutt, the drawing of you is adorable!! Thank you for answering all of the questions about squirrels and showing us their day. The books go into great detail about squirrels' activities and after you finish reading all three of them you will be able to answer your child if he or she asks you about squirrels.
I found the first book, What Squirrels Do When You're Not Looking, very intriguing and it went into subjects I had never thought about, like do squirrels go to the bathroom. Hazel Nutt shows us why sometimes swings move without anyone in them and she also shows us why car alarms go off without any person or cars near them. And how do squirrels get their food?
The illustrations are very colorful and they help explain the text as they should. Many of them are beautiful and striking.The books are in rhyme and for the most part it works. Sometimes the author squeezes in the words, so the meter suffers a little. However, the rhyming always works and it isn't forced. One part that might be a problem for American parents or children is that certain nouns are different. For example: The author uses trolley for shopping cart and bonnet for hood on a car. This is a problem only if you as a parent are not familiar with these differences. Actually, it is a good way to show how people around the world have different words for the same things.
Aside from the language, this is a delightful trilogy offering a new look at the familiar animals we see all the time. By the second book the author is showing us the tricks squirrels do as if they were in the Olympics. It is called What Squirrels Do: The Squirrel Olympics and it shines a light on the wacky antics of squirrels we take for granted. Finally, by the last one, What Squirrels Do: Just for Fun, you will think you know everything there is about squirrels, but Hazel Nutt shows us more things squirrels do for fun.
The text is good, but the part that I loved about these books is the illustrations. The squirrels scanter around the pages and interact with both other animals and plants. Also, there is movement in almost every one and the squirrels have real personalities. I can see reading this book to a toddler and the toddler being delighted by it. Another thing that is fun is there is a place for a child to personalize each book. Also, as each book begins Hazel makes us all secret detectives by telling us not to tell what we know and who told us. I know after reading these books I will be looking at squirrels in a very different way.:)
I give this book 4 and 1/2 nuts!!
About the author/authors
About Lord and Lady Doherty
Lord and Lady Doherty created the pen-name "Hazel Nutt" as a legacy for their 2 year old daughter who is called Hazel (but not Nutt).
She is their everything, so they want to make sure that they do everything they can to create a good life for her - full of love and opportunities.
Lord and Lady Doherty are accomplished ghostwriters, who decided to turn their hand to creating picture books when their daughter was born, as she makes creativity so easy (or maybe creativity comes more naturally when you have not had a full nights sleep for over two years)!
The "What Squirrels Do" trilogy is just the start of many picture books, which will be inspired by the real Hazel.
All the best
Hazel Nutt
Until the next time, though I won't be having any new guest authors for the rest of March, if you are interested in reading more of my meanderings, I am now on The Muse Blog for March talking about my writing pet peeves. Also, I will be doing my usual column on DowntownYA on March 21.
Please leave a comment for my guest and for me. I would love for everyone who visits to leave a comment. It gives me a nice warm feeling when I know that people are reading my words.:)
