The Great Squirrel Burglar

This book is about how young squirrel Jack Boy is desperate to go off and play with his friends, but is instead instructed by his mother to spend some time with his grandfather. Jack Boy is frustrated at the prospect, since Grandpa Earl is becoming forgetful, and spends much of his time asking people where he has hidden his acorns and nuts, because he can't remember!

But as Jack Boy's mother reminds him, when he and his sisters were tiny babies, it was his grandfather who helped to look after them and collected food for them. Now it is their turn to do some of the caregiving, because " that is how families work."

And in the process of following his grandfather around, and asking their various friends where the acorns might be, Jack Boy discovers something very interesting about his grandfather's past, something that makes him see Grandpa Earl in a different light...

This is a sweet story, with an important message. Valuing intergenerational relationships is an important part of learning to appreciate the circle of life, and the place each of us have within it. Simple watercolour illustrations complement the story well.