Review: Bird & Squirrel on Ice by James Burks

Bird & Squirrel

Author: James Burks

Illustrated by Robin Preiss-Glasser

Series: Bird & Squirrel #2

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 126

Amazon – TBD

Release date: 30 September 2014

Ages: 7-9 Grades: 2-4

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Bird and Squirrel are back and ready for adventure!

After Bird and Squirrel crash land in the South Pole during a raging blizzard, a penguin named Sakari thinks Bird has come to rid her village of a hungry Killer Whale. But when Squirrel finds out that Bird will actually be fed to the Killer Whale as a sacrifice, they hatch a crazy plan to escape. With a good timing, a little luck, and help from Sakari, they just might make it out alive. Or they might end up as whale food!

Review: 4 out of 5 stars

My 9 year-old son loved this book, with easy to understand text and language he was entertained from the very beginning and not overly worried about the book length which he tends to find quite daunting, he said it reminded him more of a comic with a small amount of reading and entertaining images.

Bird and Squirrel have crash landed into a mountain and meet an enthusiastic penguin named Sakari who believes Bird is the chosen one to rid her village of a hungry Killer Whale and bring peace to them all.

The adventures of Bird & Squirrel were often humorous, Bird was the optimist and brave and squirrel the pessimist and quite wary, they made a great team and had an enjoyable adventure as they planned and plotted what they would do.

This is a wonderful book about thinking positive and trying something new as well as knowing what is right and wrong,  with great action, humour and detailed illustrations, it all came together nicely and made for an entertaining read.  

Thank you to Scholastic / Graphix via Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Bird & Squirrel on Ice by James Burks.

 

About the author: For the past fifteen years I've worked as an artist in the animation industry for companies like Disney, Warner Brothers, and Nickelodeon. Projects I've worked on include the Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Home on the Range, Space Jam, the Iron Giant and the television shows, Wow Wow Wubbzy, Ni-hao Kai-lan, the Dinosaur Train and most recently on Fan Boy and Chum Chum.

Currently I'm writing and illustrating my own books. My first graphic novel for kids, GABBY AND GATOR, published by Yen Press, was a Junior Library Guild selection. I have an upcoming picture book with Lerner/Carolrhoda entitled BEEP AND BAH, an upcoming graphic novel with Scholastic/Graphix, and I'll be illustrating Tara Lazar's picture book THE MONSTORE for S&S/Aladdin