Title: Popcorn-Eating Squirrels of the World Unite!
Author: Matt Dickinson
Illustrator: Calloway Berkeley O’Reilley
Publisher: Shrine Bell
Genre: Children’s fiction, Humour
Book format: Paperback
Sweet Strawberries: 
Description: Everyone knows that squirrels love nuts, right?
Wrong!
When three young squirrels meet Salty – a grumpy, greedy old squirrel, addicted to popcorn – they become tangled up in a magical adventure that is to change their lives forever.
But what will become of Ben, Cassie and Alfie when the evil honey badgers show up? Will the three friends survive an unexpected tumble in the Pop-O-Matic 3000?
*Free copy provided by publisher for review…
Review: This is a great, funny and rather silly story with some brilliant illustrations. Aimed at children/middle grade ages the book is filled with lots of thick pages with easy to read text and lots of great illustrations throughout. Ben, Cassie and Alfie are three orphan squirrels who worry about going hungry when their food supplies run out. One day they meet Salty, a fat and greedy squirrel who’s not too keen on sharing his secret supply of food. But when the three secretly follow Salty, they discover more than just a secret supply of popcorn.
It’s easy to get into the story right away and I like how well the characters are all described. I really got into the silly adventure the squirrels go on, and it does get more silly the further you read on. At first the tale seems simple, squirrels just going after a supply of popcorn, with some exciting and funny moments as they make their way across the road and meet up with Salty for a second time. But soon the adventure just takes off and I didn’t think it could get as funny or silly as it does. I actually enjoyed how the story turns out. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but it’s a perfect adventure with some very bizarre things happening at the end, but ultimately a fun story which ends well but also leaves an opening for a second book in the series.
The illustrations really make this book so much more fun. I love how the characters look and how well their expressions are shown. The images are all very cartoonish in black, white and a reddish brown colour and keeping to these colours really does work and each picture is great to see. Some pages even have a full background in the reddish brown colour behind the text which makes reading it more fun. There’s something about the illustrations that I just love in this book and while reading it I could actually imagine this story animated.
The story turns a little silly towards the end, Alfie’s snowballs are a little much for me, but it’s still a good tale and I love how the whole thing concludes. On the last page there’s an ‘About the Author’ section which even mentions the title for the next book in the series, which I’m looking forward to. Overall I’d recommend this for those with a good sense of humour who definitely like things turning out a bit silly. It’s also a good story about friendship and definitely worth trying as it’s very different to other children’s books I’ve read.
Read review of book 2 – Popcorn-Eating Squirrels Go Nuts on Everest by Matt Dickinson & Berkeley O’ Reilly
Do you like this book? What about other funny books? Do you like squirrels? Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂
The Strawberry Post 