The Great Squirrel Uprising - Hardcover

Tired of the humans' rudeness and their trash, Scruff the squirrel mounts an uprising in N.Y.C.'s Central Park beginning when, to the humans' astonishment, a line of squirrels successfully blocks traffic at one entrance. Nearly captured by the police, Scruff is rescued by ten-year-old Sally March, who is taken with the squirrels' efforts. Believing that Sally could aid their cause, Scruff's comrade, Franklin the pigeon, tries to communicate through her with words torn from a newspaper by his bookish friend Mort, a mouse. An absolute purist, Scruff refuses to have anything to do with humans; still, time and again, Sally comes to the animals' aid. She even comes up with the key to their success: country birds are recruited to line the walls bounding the park, blocking all human access. It's also Sally who mediates the final resolution to the standoff, saving the animals from physical harm as the humans try to reopen the park, and finally gaining Scruff's grudging respect. Populated with endearing, well-developed characters, this light, entertaining story will appeal even to reluctant readers. Particularly engaging are Scruff, who suffers from Napoleonic tendencies, and Franklin, a practical pigeon who loves classical music. Cazet's cartoony illustrations warmly extend the humor. (Fiction. 9+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Fed up with humans and their litter, a band of squirrels blockades the roads into New York City's Central Park. Ten-year-old Sally saves the squirrel's leader, Scruff, from a policeman's net by sending him off on her skateboard. Through Mort, a mouse who reads, Scruff and his pigeon pal Franklin, tell Sally why the squirrels are taking over the park. When numerous creatures form a wall around the park, the citizens threaten mayhem if they are denied access. At the mayor's request, Sally pleads with the animals to disband; the mayor pledges to install more trash cans in the park and crack down on littering. Even the most obtuse reader will get this book's message--"Don't Litter"--by page five. After that, repeated hokey plot turns hammer on the same theme until the story's unsatisfying conclusion. In the genre of books with predominantly animal casts, Elish's work--as regards plot, characterization and dialogue--lacks the craft and inventiveness of, for example, Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle books. Ages 9-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.