Squirrels

REAL SQUIRRELS

	Jennifer Keats Curtis’s Squirrel Rescue (Schiffer Publishing, 2012) is a realistic account of two children finding and saving a baby squirrel who has fallen from the nest. (What to do: put it in a box and leave so that the mother squirrel can recover it.) For ages 4-8.
	Mel Boring’s Rabbits, Squirrels, and Chipmunks (Cooper Square Publishing, 1996) in the Take Along Guide series is a nicely designed and illustrated introduction to common species of the three featured animal groups, with descriptions, eating habits, where to find each, and assorted anecdotes and interesting facts. Also included are a few  hands-on projects, among them making a hanging nut ball for the squirrels and a peanut tightrope for chipmunks. For ages 5 and up.
	Diane Swanson’s Welcome to the World of Squirrels (Walrus Books, 2001), illustrated with color photographs, is a great basic introduction to squirrels, with a 32-page reader-friendly text covering squirrel anatomy, different types of squirrels, worldwide distribution, behavior, habitats, food, and predators. Readers learn that tree squirrels can have up to ten different nests (and they can weave a nest in a day). And don’t bother going to Australia to see squirrels. Australia has no squirrels. For ages 5-9.
	Richard W. Thorington and Katie Ferrell’s Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006) is a nonfiction account of all things squirrel, variously covering the different types of squirrels, form and function (Can squirrels swim? How far can squirrels jump?), squirrel behavior, squirrel habitats and food, squirrels and humans, and squirrels in literature. An excellent resource for squirrel-obsessed older teenagers and adults.

MULTICULTURAL SQUIRRELS

	Click here to learn to say “squirrel” in nearly 300 different languages. (In German, squirrel translates adorably as “oak kitten.”)
	In Norse mythology, Ratatoskr was the squirrel who darted up and down the trunk of Yggdrasil, the world tree, spreading gossip and carrying messages. Read about him (briefly) in “Yggdrasil, the World Tree” in D’Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths (New York Review of Books, 2005).
	Read the West African folktale The Squirrel and the Spider, in which a cunning Spider bilks the hardworking Squirrel of his harvest, only to be stolen from in turn by a greedy Crow.
	Indian Stories for Children has a retelling of the tale of “Lord Rama and the Squirrel” – the moral of which is that no task, however small, is unimportant.
	According to this Choctaw legend, solar eclipses are the fault of a hungry black squirrel.

OBSERVING SQUIRRELS

	Become a citizen squirrel scientist! Project Squirrel wants volunteers of all ages from all regions of the country to report squirrel sightings.
	Watching Squirrels has nature study suggestions and drawing helps for squirrel observers ages 8 and up.
	Not enough squirrels to observe? An almost foolproof way to attract some is to FEED THEM.
	Homemade Squirrel Feeders for Kids has instructions for making simple squirrel feeders with dried corn cobs, pine cones, or milk cartons. Links on the site lead to more complicated projects, such as a squirrel feeder jar.
	See these instructions for making a simple corn cob feeder and a balancing corn cob feeder (fun for acrobatic squirrels).