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Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear
The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and an American Book Award-winning artist relate Tricker's battle to outsmart Big Double, who descends from the mountains one morning to terrorize the creatures of Topple's Bottom. Reprint.
- GenresChildrens
26 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1990
1 person is currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Ken Kesey
74 books3,024 followersKen Kesey was American writer, who gained world fame with his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962, filmed 1975). In the 1960s, Kesey became a counterculture hero and a guru of psychedelic drugs with Timothy Leary. Kesey has been called the Pied Piper, who changed the beat generation into the hippie movement.
Ken Kesey was born in La Junta, CO, and brought up in Eugene, OR. He spent his early years hunting, fishing, swimming; he learned to box and wrestle, and he was a star football player. He studied at the University of Oregon, where he acted in college plays. On graduating he won a scholarship to Stanford University. Kesey soon dropped out, joined the counterculture movement, and began experimenting with drugs. In 1956 he married his school sweetheart, Faye Haxby.
Kesey attended a creative writing course taught by the novelist Wallace Stegner. His first work was an unpublished novel, ZOO, about the beatniks of the North Beach community in San Francisco. Tom Wolfe described in his book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) Kesey and his friends, called the Merry Pranksters, as they traveled the country and used various hallucinogens. Their bus, called Furthur, was painted in Day-Glo colors. In California Kesey's friends served LSD-laced Kool-Aid to members of their parties.
At a Veterans' Administration hospital in Menlo Park, California, Kesey was paid as a volunteer experimental subject, taking mind-altering drugs and reporting their effects. These experiences as a part-time aide at a psychiatric hospital, LSD sessions - and a vision of an Indian sweeping there the floor - formed the background for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, set in a mental hospital. While writing the work, and continuing in the footsteps of such writers as Thomas De Quincy (Confessions of an English Opium Eater, 1821), Aldous Huxley (The Doors of Perception, 1954), and William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch, 1959), Kesey took peyote. The story is narrated by Chief Bromden. Into his world enters the petty criminal and prankster Randall Patrick McMurphy with his efforts to change the bureaucratic system of the institution, ruled by Nurse Ratched.
The film adaptation of the book gained a huge success. When the film won five Academy Awards, Kesey was barely mentioned during the award ceremonies, and he made known his unhappiness with the film. He did not like Jack Nicholson, or the script, and sued the producers.
Kesey's next novel, Sometimes a Great Notion (1964), appeared two years later and was also made into a film, this time directed by Paul Newman. The story was set in a logging community and centered on two brothers and their bitter rivalry in the family. After the work, Kesey gave up publishing novels. He formed a band of "Merry Pranksters", set up a commune in La Honda, California, bought an old school bus, and toured America and Mexico with his friends, among them Neal Cassady, Kerouac's travel companion. Dressed in a jester's outfit, Kesey was the chief prankster.
In 1965 Kesey was arrested for possession of marijuana. He fled to Mexico, where he faked an unconvincing suicide and then returned to the United States, serving a five-month prison sentence at the San Mateo County Jail. After this tumultuous period he bought farm in Pleasant Hill, Oregon, settled down with his wife to raise their four children, and taught a graduate writing seminar at the University of Oregon. In the early 1970s Kesey returned to writing and published Kesey's Garage Sale (1973). His later works include the children's book Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear(1990) and Sailor Song (1992), a futuristic tale about an Alaskan fishing village and Hollywood film crew. Last Go Around (1994), Kesey's last book, was an account of a famous Oregon rodeo written in the form of pulp fiction. In 2001, Kesey died of complications after surgery for liver cance
Ken Kesey was born in La Junta, CO, and brought up in Eugene, OR. He spent his early years hunting, fishing, swimming; he learned to box and wrestle, and he was a star football player. He studied at the University of Oregon, where he acted in college plays. On graduating he won a scholarship to Stanford University. Kesey soon dropped out, joined the counterculture movement, and began experimenting with drugs. In 1956 he married his school sweetheart, Faye Haxby.
Kesey attended a creative writing course taught by the novelist Wallace Stegner. His first work was an unpublished novel, ZOO, about the beatniks of the North Beach community in San Francisco. Tom Wolfe described in his book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) Kesey and his friends, called the Merry Pranksters, as they traveled the country and used various hallucinogens. Their bus, called Furthur, was painted in Day-Glo colors. In California Kesey's friends served LSD-laced Kool-Aid to members of their parties.
At a Veterans' Administration hospital in Menlo Park, California, Kesey was paid as a volunteer experimental subject, taking mind-altering drugs and reporting their effects. These experiences as a part-time aide at a psychiatric hospital, LSD sessions - and a vision of an Indian sweeping there the floor - formed the background for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, set in a mental hospital. While writing the work, and continuing in the footsteps of such writers as Thomas De Quincy (Confessions of an English Opium Eater, 1821), Aldous Huxley (The Doors of Perception, 1954), and William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch, 1959), Kesey took peyote. The story is narrated by Chief Bromden. Into his world enters the petty criminal and prankster Randall Patrick McMurphy with his efforts to change the bureaucratic system of the institution, ruled by Nurse Ratched.
The film adaptation of the book gained a huge success. When the film won five Academy Awards, Kesey was barely mentioned during the award ceremonies, and he made known his unhappiness with the film. He did not like Jack Nicholson, or the script, and sued the producers.
Kesey's next novel, Sometimes a Great Notion (1964), appeared two years later and was also made into a film, this time directed by Paul Newman. The story was set in a logging community and centered on two brothers and their bitter rivalry in the family. After the work, Kesey gave up publishing novels. He formed a band of "Merry Pranksters", set up a commune in La Honda, California, bought an old school bus, and toured America and Mexico with his friends, among them Neal Cassady, Kerouac's travel companion. Dressed in a jester's outfit, Kesey was the chief prankster.
In 1965 Kesey was arrested for possession of marijuana. He fled to Mexico, where he faked an unconvincing suicide and then returned to the United States, serving a five-month prison sentence at the San Mateo County Jail. After this tumultuous period he bought farm in Pleasant Hill, Oregon, settled down with his wife to raise their four children, and taught a graduate writing seminar at the University of Oregon. In the early 1970s Kesey returned to writing and published Kesey's Garage Sale (1973). His later works include the children's book Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear(1990) and Sailor Song (1992), a futuristic tale about an Alaskan fishing village and Hollywood film crew. Last Go Around (1994), Kesey's last book, was an account of a famous Oregon rodeo written in the form of pulp fiction. In 2001, Kesey died of complications after surgery for liver cance
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 16, 2021
Little Randall Patrick McSquirrel meets Big Nurse Ratched the Bear in an epic power struggle over who controls the nuts.
No, seriously - this children's story is told in an utterly charming, folksy style you might never expect from the fellow who wrote a famous tale of tragedy and woe set in a loony-bin. And, oh, how I love this description of an early autumn morning:
Hanging in the low limbs of the crab-apple trees was some of those strings of daybreak fog called "haint hair" by them that believes in such. The night shifts and the day shifts were shifting very slow. The crickets hadn't put away their fiddles. The spiders hadn't shook the dew out of their webs yet. The birds hadn't quite woke up and the bats hadn't gone to sleep. Nothing was a-move except one finger of sun slipping soft up the knobby trunk of the hazel. It was one of the prettiest times of the day at one of the prettiest times of the year, and all the Bottom folk were content to let it come about quiet and slow and savory.
The story itself is your basic trickster tale, with the small and clever critter outwitting the oafish, greedy predator/invader. It's very text heavy, so I expect the youngest listeners might get bored. And, though I wasn't wild about Barry Moser's illustrations, they fit well with the tone of the book.
And, with the villain vanquished, all the little forest animals went on a fishing trip with some prostitutes.
The End.
No, seriously - this children's story is told in an utterly charming, folksy style you might never expect from the fellow who wrote a famous tale of tragedy and woe set in a loony-bin. And, oh, how I love this description of an early autumn morning:
Hanging in the low limbs of the crab-apple trees was some of those strings of daybreak fog called "haint hair" by them that believes in such. The night shifts and the day shifts were shifting very slow. The crickets hadn't put away their fiddles. The spiders hadn't shook the dew out of their webs yet. The birds hadn't quite woke up and the bats hadn't gone to sleep. Nothing was a-move except one finger of sun slipping soft up the knobby trunk of the hazel. It was one of the prettiest times of the day at one of the prettiest times of the year, and all the Bottom folk were content to let it come about quiet and slow and savory.
The story itself is your basic trickster tale, with the small and clever critter outwitting the oafish, greedy predator/invader. It's very text heavy, so I expect the youngest listeners might get bored. And, though I wasn't wild about Barry Moser's illustrations, they fit well with the tone of the book.
And, with the villain vanquished, all the little forest animals went on a fishing trip with some prostitutes.
The End.
January 17, 2008
i. love. ken. kesey.
i saw him tell this story in person. he wore a bandana and was so animated when he performed this tale. i can still hear his big booming voice reverberating between my ears and into my heart. little tricker was passed to him from his grandmother.
i saw him tell this story in person. he wore a bandana and was so animated when he performed this tale. i can still hear his big booming voice reverberating between my ears and into my heart. little tricker was passed to him from his grandmother.
April 2, 2022
Big oil cooperate chain store franchise man wanna take down small town hero story start up crypto to save dying daughter who has the ADHD. But they do Man Vs Food instead. They both like milkshakes. Forget the plot. Big old Double Bubble commit suicide he’s so confused. Gives birth to woodland ecosystem! Never knew pregnant. Nurse Ratched visits. Tells them brain lightning is good for growth. Badger break window to make sure. Hitchhiker now. Oh, and the squirrel sign 10 figure mouse contract. Have to have premiere premium bonus extra plus exclusive experience package in order to watch. Shows called “Moon Knight”
November 19, 2019
My guess is Ken Kesey never had kids.
Was bought new for me by my great-aunt, when I was eight. So it's taken me 30 years to get around to it.
The heavy accent makes the prose inaccessible kid-wise, and it's a pretty classic trickster story steeped in that heavy accent. But I found the eating-sentient people pretty off-putting and the humor was way over my head at age eight, so despite really liking the movie version of Cuckoo's Nest, I couldn't get into it.
Was bought new for me by my great-aunt, when I was eight. So it's taken me 30 years to get around to it.
The heavy accent makes the prose inaccessible kid-wise, and it's a pretty classic trickster story steeped in that heavy accent. But I found the eating-sentient people pretty off-putting and the humor was way over my head at age eight, so despite really liking the movie version of Cuckoo's Nest, I couldn't get into it.
July 25, 2007
I had to cross this one in between picture book and juvie fiction. In it, Kesey shares a wonderful tale passed down through his family, plenty of voices and expressions to be used, great for a program when you have more than 15 minutes.
April 22, 2024
A Prankster fairy tale of a hippie-ish squirrel who saves Topple's Bottom from a hungry, aggressive bear who was looking to tank up on the local wildlife before a long winter's nap. In this tale, originally told by the author's grandmother, Kesey's prose provides a unique Northwestern dialect for the woodland characters and is accompanied by interesting anthropomorphic illustrations by Barry Moser. Never trust a Prankster, or Tricker the Squirrel.
February 1, 2019
One of the best narratives ever if you have a flair for characterization in voice and enjoy reading to captivated children. Illustrations are to die for. Can still recite from memory certain passages that were swirling in the imaginations of my young, attentive children a quarter-century ago. The best fun of being a parent with the television off. Before the Internet and anti-social media.
December 9, 2018
it's mostly a pretty standard picture book, but still
August 20, 2020
An amusing trickster tale set in the Ozarks with delightful illustrations by Barry Moser.
October 27, 2022
The prolific similies were pretty fabulous and I sure enjoy a story where I can root for the little guy. I didn't know Ken Kesey had a children's book.
January 13, 2023
Best read-aloud picture book ever! Kesey's lilting language combined with breath-taking illustrations. Been my absolute favorite book since I can remember, especially read aloud with my dad's voices!
September 1, 2010
Who knew that, like James Joyce and Jenna Bush, Ken Kesey was a children's author? Anyone can do it, it seems. Just alliterate a lot. Like Ken:
"'You backwoods bully!' Sally hisses. 'You ridge-running rowdy!What are you doing down out of your ridges ripping up our rivers? This isn't your play puddle!'"
Apparently, this is a story that Kesey's grandmother told to him.
I'm a huge fan, and this made me ashamed for him. Ken, this isn't your play puddle.
"'You backwoods bully!' Sally hisses. 'You ridge-running rowdy!What are you doing down out of your ridges ripping up our rivers? This isn't your play puddle!'"
Apparently, this is a story that Kesey's grandmother told to him.
I'm a huge fan, and this made me ashamed for him. Ken, this isn't your play puddle.
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April 27, 2017good
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews