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Children’s Book Review: Scaredy Squirrel at Night

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Oh, my kids sure love these books! Melanie Watts does such an excellent job, from the funny plots to the hilarious illustrations. This one is no exception, its a favorite now.

Reading level: ages 4-8

Page Count: 32 pages

Publisher: Kids Can Press

What to expect: lots of reading, her pages all always chock full of fun extras, the usual Scaredy antics, hilarity ensuing. Lessons about courage.

Publisher’s synopsis: Scaredy never sleeps — sleep might mean bad dreams about dragons, ghosts, vampire bats and polka-dot monsters. Our wide-eyed hero has a plan: stay awake all night, every night. Between counting stars, playing cymbals and making scrapbooks, he does a good job of avoiding dreamland.

With exhaustion taking its toll, Scaredy comes face-to-face with an alarming horoscope prediction: All his dreams are about to come true!

He must prepare for the worst and his Bad Dream Action Plan includes a fire extinguisher to snuff out dragons and a fan to blast away ghosts. But when disaster strikes, will Scaredy survive this ordeal? Will he thank his lucky stars? Will he find sweet dreams?

Scaredy Squirrel at Night tackles a fear everyone — and especially the young — can relate to. It’s a bedtime story to make light of kids’ fear of the dark and a fable for our sleep-deprived society.

About the Author:

It was in a design class taught by Michèle Lemieux at the University of Quebec in Montreal that author and illustrator Mélanie Watt created her first picture book, Leon the Chameleon, which was later published by Kids Can Press. Watt went on to create several more books, including the Learning with Animals collection and Augustine, which was named an ALA Notable Children’s Book. Watt has also illustrated Where Does a Tiger-Heron Spend the Night? and Bearcub and Mama, which won the 2006 IRA Teachers’ Choices Project.
Mélanie’s best known book, Scaredy Squirrel, has won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award for Children’s Picture Book and the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award. The release of the sequel, Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend, was met with enthusiastic reviews and incredible sales, confirming the arrival of kid lit’s newest superstar.
Chester, and its sequel Chester’s Back! are about a megalomaniac cat who is every bit the antithesis to Scaredy. Chester has already become a bestseller and shows the breadth and creativity of Mélanie Watt.
Scaredy returns to take a few more tentative steps out of his comfort zone in Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach and Scaredy Squirrel at Night. Mélanie has often noted how the Scaredy Squirrel books helped her work out her own insecurities and fears, as the success of these titles has required her to venture out into the unknown, and like Scaredy she has found the experience truly uplifting.
Mélanie currently resides near Montreal, Quebec.

You may also enjoy reading: the rest of the Scaredy Squirrel Series!


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