Squirrels Are Uninvited Guests in Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri's Those Darn Squirrels!

While I’ve always loved squirrels, I really started to take notice of them when I watched a pair of television specials about people building elaborate obstacle courses in an effort to thwart the squirrels attempting to pilfer their birdseed. Well, for the purposes of the show, it was more for the entertainment value of watching them try to figure it out. But many bird lovers try to feed their feathered friends while discouraging marauding squirrels. That’s just what happens in Those Darn Squirrels!, written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri.

Old Man Fookwire is a grouchy loner. He lives on the edge of town, near the forest, and he has few interests. However, he does have one passion: painting birds. While the book seems to be set on the outskirts of a pretty ordinary town, Salmieri and Rubin have created a fantasy element in the names and appearances of the many birds that visit the codger. Whirley birds, bonga birds, baba birds, yaba birds and floogie birds all come to visit, filling his yard with vibrant colors.

In winter, his yard is empty, which saddens the old man. So one year, he decides to put up birdfeeders in an effort to entice the birds into staying. They appreciate his goodies, but so do some squirrels who live nearby. And so Old Man Fookwire begins to plan, and up goes an elaborate obstacle course. But the squirrels are very clever. Will it be enough to keep them out? And will the birds be convinced to stay through the winter?

This is a cute story in which the squirrels - gray squirrels, which abound here in Pennsylvania - are shown to be both mischievous and compassionate. They love dreaming up ways to outsmart the human who would keep them from a tasty treat, but they also feel sorry for this fellow who doesn’t seem to live a very cheerful life. Toward the end of the book, they hatch a plan to thank him for his unintended generosity, and it’s a very creative and considerate gesture. I love the plot and the way in which all parties involved eventually come to a resolution.

What I’m not so crazy about are the watercolor / gouache / colored pencil illustrations, particularly of the old man, who has a strange, almost grotesque look about him. He has long, stick-thin legs and arms and a neck that might feel more at home on a giraffe, along with a bulbous, ruddy nose. He usually looks cross, and his tongue sometimes sticks out of his mouth. I imagine Salmieri made an effort to depict him as unattractively as possible, in which case, he succeeded. The squirrels are cute enough, but their thin faces fail to convey the personality they show in the text. My favorite element of his illustrations is probably the birds, though I also like his way of depicting the blended colors of the atmosphere.

While these aren’t the most beguiling squirrels I’ve ever seen, anyone who has railed against the bushy-tailed intruders in his backyard or wished that they would come visit her birdfeeder can find something to chuckle over in this silly book.