Customer Reviews

The Squirrel the Worm and the Nut Trees

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Squirrel, the Worm, and the Nut Trees is a fine piece of fiction from Jimmie Powell. This children's book is indeed for kids roughly ages 9 through 12; they will enjoy the beautiful illustrations by Bobbi Switzer and the book is rather well written.

The story is essentially about the importance of being thoughtful and creative when faced with a problem--even a serious problem. You see, in this short book the worm and his friends have ruined the nut supply on purpose. That way the worms can laugh when the squirrels can't find enough nuts to store for their winter food supply. At first the squirrels (that's Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel to you) panic and feel confused; but eventually Mr. Squirrel hatches a plan that leads to a happy ending.

This book, of course, can be taken at the very concrete level by children who are still at that level of development; and simultaneously children who can get the somewhat deeper message will learn the importance of using their brains to think up creative, new ways to cope with problems and solve them when they unexpectedly occur. This is excellent preparation for the real world we all must enter in life. While the problem of no food could be very somber, Jimmie Powell writes in such a way that children won't be scared off by the description of the problem. That's great.

Again, the illustrations by Bobbi Switzer are marvelous--they're very well done and Bobbi clearly put a great deal of effort into these drawings. Jimmie Powell writes with a good sensitivity for children at the appropriate age level and I think that's terrific.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for kids aged roughly 9 to 12. I commend Jimmie Powell for writing a fine piece of fiction that teaches a very important lesson about life.

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This is one of the most delightful books I've read for children. It is so clever in revealing several of the "deadly sins" that when the book is over, the children learn (or at least have an idea) about how to manage their world (no matter how small it is).

The squirrels always began to collect food in the Fall for the Winter, but this year it was different; there were very few nuts. Mr. Squirrel brought his family into the search, and together they found enough to barely get them through the long, cold snowy season. Where there should have been nuts, there were silk worm webs.

Then the squirrel knew what had happened. The worm, greedy and mean, had destroyed the nut crop. Mr. Squirrel went to Mr. Worm to ask why he made the nuts rotten.

Mr. Worm told the squirrel that he could not use them, but loved to make them decay so the squirrels couldn't use them either. "Ha! Seems like you and your family will starve! Ha, ha!"

That year the squirrels just made it until Spring brought its small warmth; then the squirrels executed "The Squirrel's Family Plan and Goals". They spent hours on it during the winter with tummies only half full; the plans helped keep their minds off the lack of food.

In early Spring they began collecting some nuts and a few every day of Spring and through Summer; never really enough to be noticed by the Worm. In the Fall there were more that they added to their store house, but left enough to fool Mr. Worm. He laughed with his friends. He was happy thinking that he would starve out the squirrels this year.

They had so much they knew they would not go hungry; and that was a delicious secret.

This book shows what greed and avarice can do, and it shows that ingenuity and a whole family working hard together can avoid disasters.

The pictures are gorgeous, the colors vivid and bright; even Mr. Worm is cute. This is a charming and fun book for kids as young 2-3 and as old as anyone who likes delightful stories with bright, colorful pictures.

Victoria Tarrani

The moment I saw this book by Jimmie Powell I had to giggle at the cover. I saw an adorable squirrel sitting in a tree with his basket of nuts and a crabby looking worm glaring at me. It made me wonder who the good guy would be in this children's tale. I had a sneaky suspicion.
We are taken into the life of Mr. Squirrel and his happy little family. The Squirrel's are busy gathering nuts for the long winter that is ahead, but there is a problem. Mr. Worm and his group are destroying all the nuts before the squirrels have a chance to gather them. Oh no! Will Mr. Squirrel and his family make it through the winter? What will they do?

In this book author ,Jimmie Powell brings to light quite a serious problem that the squirrels are facing. He has Mr. Squirrel try to solve the problem in one way,and when that does not work he has the squirrels come up with another idea where they must all work together in order to survive.
I think this was great and shows children that when faced with a challenge never give up when one solution does not work.
The illustrations are marvelous bringing each page to life. The expressions on the faces of the animals are perfect in showing the emotions they are feeling. This is a wonderful children's book. One that teaches the importance of problem solving in a great story with top-notch illustrations.
Very well done.

Kids learn when there are problems, a positive attitude and hard work will solve most problems. Good for the whole family.

THE SQUIRREL, THE WORM, AND THE NUT TREES is a brilliantly illustrated book. The vivid colors, adorable animals and playful scenes will keep children under interested and entertained. The story focuses on a family of squirrels whose winter food supply is being destroyed by Mr. Worm. Mr. Squirrel realizes that food will be sparse during the winter and they agree to cut back. But the family hatches a plan to ensure that it won't happen again. The unsuspecting worm continues his destruction year after year without realizing that the squirrels have outwitted him.

THE SQUIRREL, THE WORM, AND THE NUT TREES is a delightful book but lacks character development and simple editing. The book fails to answer the familiar question that kids ask, "why"? Why did the worm ruin the nuts? Why didn't the squirrels have a plan in the beginning? What did they do during the course of the year? Anyway, you get the point - these unanswered questions make for a long story time. The reading level is intended for kids 9-12 but the simplistic ideas can be understood by those that are much younger. Powell plans to write a series of books featuring the squirrel and the worm hopefully the next installment will be better developed.

Deltareviewer
Reviewing for Real Page Turners

This review is written by my daughter, the one who read it, and edited by me.

The story is long and not very interesting. It is unoriginal and boring.

Certain sentences do not make sense: "I love to rotten the nuts with my silk webs" and "later, Mr. Squirrel looked until he found Mr. Worm hiding under a bush". There are also unnecessary repetitions: "later, he told Mr. Squirrel about it. Mr. Squirrel was very upset".

The drawings do not always correspond to the story, are not very well drawn and show certain things in detail that are not useful for the story.

Not really recommended.

This is a GREAT story. It teaches that a family that sticks together and has a plan, can survive under whatever conditions. It also shows that even when facing a potentialy life threating situation, and knowing who caused it, violence is not the answer.This book is very well illustrated, and is very well put together. I highly recommed this book for anyone young and old alike.

My daughter loves this book! The book helped me show my daughter how cooperation is needed in every family. I thought it also was a good book on helping children deal with bullies. It emphasized that no matter what obstacles people put before us, as a family we will overcome.

Great book! The storyline is great and the illustrations are fantastic! I would highly recommend this book for the young at heart of all ages!

The Squirrel, the Worm, and the Nut Trees is a sub-par children's book about a male squirrel who has to find a way to outsmart a worm in order to get the necessary sustenance his family needs for winter survival. The worm is causing the nuts to rot, leaving the squirrel without a means to feed his family. He has to think of something; some way to prevent the worm from destroying his food supply if he hopes to survive.

This book is all about pre- planning and working toward a solution to a problem. This is fine and good, but there are many faults that prevent this from being a good children's book. Among the most noticeable of the issues I have with this book is the lack of good editing. Examples include statements like, I love to rotten the nuts with my silk webs, and, Mr. Squirrel and his family had to stretch the nuts they had found, so that they would last a longtime. Unless the dictionary has changed, the word rotten isn't a verb, a nut cannot be physically stretched, and longtime is two separate words, not one. Some simple editing would have cleared up this glaring problem. Another area that needs editing is the placement of quotes. There are many quotes from Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Worm and they are often right next to each other. You cannot immediately tell who is saying what until you finish the paragraph.

Another issue I have with this book is the story itself. Aside from the idea that planning ahead is a good way to solve a problem, there is no real moral to the story. The story is also a little too simplistic. The squirrel needs to outsmart the worm, so what does he do? His brilliant plan is to gather the nuts earlier in the year. Considering this book is aimed at elementary school children between the ages of nine and twelve, this story is a little too basic. Something more unique or creative would have made the story much better.

Is there anything redeeming about this book? I can think of exactly one thing: The illustrations. They look like they were taken directly from a television cartoon and they offer many cute drawings of the squirrels, worms, trees, and surrounding forest terrain. Most everything is either brown or green, so the illustrations are not particularly colorful. But they are realistic, and there is enough visual enjoyment that children will not pay much attention to the story.

Overall, The Squirrel, the Worm, and the Nut Trees is a below- average children's book that lacks much originality, uses bad grammar, isn't always realistic (what type of worm makes a web?), and doesn't offer a very strong or complete message (the book ends with the worm unable to figure out what happened). Only the illustrations rescue this book from the lower ranks of children's fiction. It isn't much, but it will do in a pinch when the younger children have nothing else to do and want some fun pictures to view.