Say Goodnight to the Sun and Squirrels Alike With Last Song

With some books, the illustrations are obvious accompaniments to the text. In other cases, the words and the pictures almost tell two different stories. Such is the case with Last Song, written by James Guthrie and illustrated by Eric Rohmann. The text of the book is a short poem along the lines of Goodnight Moon but much more truncated. Indeed, only three objects are specifically mentioned, and none of them is the reason I checked this book out of the library.

When I did a search for squirrel books at the library, this one came up. No squirrels are mentioned in the text, but the illustrations are full of them. In the pictures, this is the story of three squirrels. They all have brown fur and cheerful expressions, and they look to be about the same size; my guess would be that they are all supposed to be siblings, since they share a nest.

This is a very short book that contains only 27 words stretched out across several pages, all in one sentence. It’s a very soothing sort of rhyme, but this is not a story that’s going to take up much time at bedtime. I can’t imagine it taking much more than five minutes, and that’s if you stop to study each of the pictures. The only way it might be stretched out longer is if you disregarded the text and encouraged your child to provide new narration for what the squirrels are doing throughout their day. But with only 11 two-page spreads and one illustration taking up a single page, even that probably won’t take long.

Not only is this book short, it’s physically small, a square that’s only about seven and a half inches on any side. It’s not that much bigger than a gift book such as those created by Bradley Trevor Grieve. Hence, there’s less to look at, though what’s there is quite lovely, particularly the atmosphere, hazy and bright early in the book, dark and star-studded at the end. The squirrels are charming as well, always chasing each other in a flurry of activity, except when they finally return to the tree to rest after a busy day. Another nice element of the book is the cover, which is extra-thick and has a pattern of leaves and acorns on it. Cut out of the middle in the front is an amorphous hole, through which we can see the sleeping squirrels. It’s a pretty neat way to feel we’re getting a peek at them.

Last Song is a cute book that certainly makes for appropriate Squirrel Appreciation Day reading. It retails for $11, and I’m just not sure there’s enough there to make it worth the price of the book for most people, but if you have a young child who really loves squirrels, give Last Song a try.