Those darn squirrels!

K-Gr 3-Great googley-moogley! Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri's quirky and funny picture book trilogy (Clarion) about Old Man Fookwire and his rodent archenemies appears in three iconographically animated shorts. Fookwire is a grumpy guy whose only joy is watching and painting the colorful birds that visit the feeders in his yard. To his consternation, his yard is also populated by "fuzzy little geniuses." In each story, the squirrels use their wiles to make mischief, solve problems, and break through the iron fence around Old Man Fookwire's heart. Seasoned audio performer Kirby Heyborne narrates, unabashedly growling Fookwire's dialogue and reading the exposition with amusement. Playful music is lightly heard behind Heyborne's narration, alternating with basic sound effects, such as birds tweeting, cats yowling, horns honking, and ocean waves crashing. Viewers have the option to watch with or without captions. These humorous stories could have benefited from actual animation to bring more vibrancy to their whimsy, but they are good fun nevertheless.-Jennifer Verbrugge, Dakota County Library, MN (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Old Man Fookwire, a "grump" of the first order, hates everything, except for his birds. He paints their pictures and hopes his birdfeeder-bribe will convince them to avoid migration. Unfortunately, hoarding squirrels--the "fuzzy little geniuses" of the forest--devour the birds' allotment, even snatching the treats dangling high above a clothesline. Fookwire shakes his fist and shouts, "those darn squirrels!" An innovative laser obstacle course, however, stumps the scurrying rodents, but with their final bite, the birds migrate anyway, leaving Fookwire forlorn--and the squirrels repentantly determined to make it up to him, as only fuzzy little geniuses can. Rubin's pithy text adds comedic flair, though it is Salmieri's watercolor, gouache and colored pencil illustrations that hilariously carry the backyard shenanigans. Bald Fookwire is a riot as the agitation builds, with his beakish nose, elongated neck and wiry limbs, and the squirrels, with their bloated bellies and contented smiles, are a flying hoot in this droll debut. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.