Grimwood

March 15, 2023
Two fox siblings, refugees from the Big City, find a friendlier (if occasionally dangerous) new home. "No real animals were harmed in the making of this book," Shireen writes, and though that's true in the literal sense, there's plenty of damage to fictive ones. With their parents long gone (but maybe someday coming back?) sweet little Ted and his grumpy, protective big sister, Nancy, are eking out existence as dumpster divers--until Ted mistakes the tail of vicious kitty Princess Buttons for a hot dog and bites it off. Thinking it might be wise to lie low for a bit, the two scarper off to the happy forest community of Grimwood, where helmet-wearing squirrels compete in wild games of "treebonk," antlered mayor Titus Wildhorns has friendly greetings and a gift basket for them, and Ted is soon enlisted by the local community theater to replace a rat who has just had his head bitten off by Pamela the eagle ("A bird has to eat"). Along with genuine "spot art" made up of fingerprints, coffee stains, and spatters of ink, the author decorates this sylvan idyll with charming and hilarious loosely drawn vignettes and occasional commentary by a pillbug named Eric sporting a straw boater. Princess Buttons does eventually show up, bent on vengeance, setting the stage for a dramatic climax. The action, humor, and ample illustrations give this much reader appeal. A lighthearted series opener. (Animal fantasy. 8-12)

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