Your squirrels don’t know why they’re losing their trees. So, in this book, I was on the lookout for situations that would lend themselves to simple yet expressive or dramatic compositions.ĥ. Sometimes images form in my mind while I’m writing, and then I want to draw them. LRP: Some ideas are visual first - cinematic, even - then verbal. As the rare writer who illustrates her own novels, how do you decide what gets a picture?

They cause a lot of power outages, usually when one part of them is touching something grounded and another part is touching something that’s not grounded. LRP: So many things! There are recorded instances of mass squirrel emigrations that include swimming across lakes and reservoirs. And what have you learned about squirrels? But all kinds of fiction is about character and relationships and circumstances. I did think of it as my attempt at joining the great tradition of rodent adventure novels, which I believe allow us to see ourselves without getting too scared or having our feelings hurt. LRP: At the risk of sounding really dumb, until you asked this question, I never mentally categorized this book as “fantasy,” though clearly it is. Did writing fantasy teach you anything about writing realism?

After some time (weeks? months?) went by and I still thought it was funny, I wrote a little story about it. I couldn’t stop laughing when I thought of it.

LRP: I was working in my studio one afternoon when, out of nowhere, the phrase “the squirrel who cried wolf” popped into my head. Your fellow Newbery laureates Lois Lowry, Cynthia Voigt, and Richard Peck crossed over into animal fantasy with books about mice. Includes an introduction, epilogue, and footnotes throughout, as well as original exclusive material from the author.1. will relish the squirrels adventures, as well as Perkins s laugh-aloud illustrations and equally witty footnotes. Nuts to You is wholly original, funny, lively, and thought-provoking. New communities are discovered, new friends are made, huge danger is encountered (both man-made and of the fox and bobcat variety) and the mysteries of squirrel culture are revealed. So when Jed is snatched up by a hawk and carried away to another realm, TsTs and Chai resolve to go after him. Jed, TsTs, and Chai are the very best of friends. Nuts to You features black-and-white art by the author on every page, as well as exclusive material original to this edition. another completely original and exceptional package from Perkins, said the Horn Book. How far would you go for a friend? In Nuts to You, the funny and moving illustrated novel by Newbery Medalist Lynne Rae Perkins, two squirrels go very far indeed to save a friend who has been snatched up by a hawk.

Nuts to you perkins