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Nuts to You

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Nuts to You
by Lynne Rae Perkins
Greenwillow, 2014.   272 pgs.  Fantasy

     Usually the expression "nuts to you" is an old-timey brush-off or insult.  But when you're a squirrel, it's just a kind wish. Kind wishes and deadly perils abound in Perkins' delightful lower to middle grade novel about Jed the Squirrel who is snatched up by a hawk but who, against all odds, escapes and is dropped into another area of squirreldom.  Luckily his friends TsTs and Chia see him fall, and follow after him along the singing wires that hang between the silver towers. Jed has fallen among a group of reddish-coated, hick-talking squirrels whom he comes to enjoy, but he really wants to get back home so he is excited beyond measure when TsTs and Chia find him and they all head back--but they soon encounter a Peril of all Perils which threatens not only themselves, but their families, their community, and, in fact, the squirrel way of life.  But will anyone believe them in time to be saved?  Nuts to You is a truly charming story filled with subtle humor, great friendships, squirrel derring-do, and Perkins' perfect pictures. Suitable for grades 2 through 4, I should say, and surely a terrific read-aloud.
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