The Squirrel's Birthday and Other Parties

by Toon Tellegen

Book Overview

A new gift edition of a classic title--with illustrations that are reminiscent of Winnie-the-Pooh A whale and a seagull dance silently on a moon-drenched beach. A grasshopper pays a fortune for a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1906250936
• ISBN13: 9781906250935
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Boxer Books
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.9" x 6.9"
• Age Range: 5 years and up
• Grade Range: Preschool and higher

Customer Reviews

I laughed so hard that my sides started to hurt!

By Jahla The Birthday of the Squirrel is a story about animals who wear clothes to a party. The birthday girl made a lot of cake. They had fat stomachs after eating. I laughed so hard that my sides started to hurt. My opinion is that this book is excellent. The part that is hilarious is when they ate too much cake. The snake had three cupcakes in his stomach. I thought do not eat too much cake or you're going to get fatter and fatter. Then, you will explode! I was laughing so hard that my sides started to hurt. If you are looking for a great new book you should check out The Squirrel's Birthday. You can find it at Barnes and Noble. It's really great. You should check it out.

Toon Tellegen write so phantasyful

I knew the animal stories of Toon Tellegen from Dutch language. In English they are the same: strange, very open ended, but so funny and recognisable and fairy tale like. You can read it at the end of your meal or at the beginning of any training course - it is like a prayer for being open minded.

Presents, and Cake

"Dear Whale, I'm not sure if you exist, but I'm inviting you to my party anyway. Tomorrow, on the beach. If you exist, will you come? The Seagull" Poetically strange, delicate, delightful. Animals, dressing up, presents, and plenty of delicious cake - THE SQUIRREL'S BIRTHDAY AND OTHER PARTIES.

Beauty in its purest form

My mother likes to say that "cute is a defense mechanism". That there are creatures in this world that need to be cute in order to stay alive. I agree with this, but I'd argue that there are different kinds of cute out there. There's the saccharine sugary stuff that makes your teeth hurt for a week. There's the instantaneous cute that is so mesmerizing you're actually afraid to look away. And then there's the quiet, understated cute that charms you with its intricacy and delicate wit. How's that for a segue, eh? Well, how else am I supposed to introduce to you what essentially boils down to one of the strangest and most delightful children's imports I've seen in a long long time? The Danes have been at it again. This time they've conjured up a fellow by the name of Toon Tellegen (why don't we ever name our kids "Toon"?) who for the last 25 years has written more than 300 stories about a little world full of animals. And so we end up with a book that feels like an old friend the first time you turn one of its pages. Like coming home again. In "The Squirrel's Birthday and Other Parties", Mr. Tellegen has written nine stories about the animal denizens of his little world and their various parties. In the first and longest of these a squirrel throws himself a birthday party and creates a huge array of delicious cakes for all the guests (a water cake for the dragonfly, an algae cake for the pike, a small moldy willow cake for a woodworm, etc.). Subsequent stories tell of other parties, both big and little. There is "The Set Table" where squirrel and ant stumble across a delicious table set up by a host so shy he won't reveal himself to his uninvited guests. Or "The Costume Party" where squirrel's gift for costuming proves to be his downfall, leading to an inspired solution. Each story is accompanied by a multitude of delightful little color illustrations. By the time you end, you'll sigh and wonder how it is that you no longer have any more stories to enjoy. Back up, you. I'm going to generalize for a second here. Dutch children's literature. Now now! I'm not saying anything bad about it! I just want to point out that sometimes Americans don't... well... don't exactly get it. Take the case of "The Swan's Child" by Dutch Cooper. I liked it and thought it was fun, but Americans got a little weirded out by this tale of a baby who appears on the back of a swan and is raised by a cadre of animals. We wonder why there aren't more foreign imports gracing our nation's shelves and the only answer I can give is that sometimes the books coming in have an entirely different flavor from our day-to-day fare. We Americans don't know how to handle this, so we reject `em en masse. So really, one of the most remarkable things about "The Squirrel's Birthday" is that though it feels different from the bulk of the schlock out there, it's infinitely relatable and lovely. Translator Martin Cleaver has done a stand up job at capturing the flavo