Elliot's Park #1: Saving Mr Nibbles

Elliot's Park #1

by Patrick Carman, Jim Madsen (Illustrator)

Welcome to Elliot's Park! The wild and wacky adventures of a curious young squirrel named Elliot, and the friends who help him solve really big problems.


Mister Nibbles has been captured and taken to the yellow house across the street from Elliot’s park! Squirrels aren't meant to live indoors (not even stuffed ones like Mister Nibbles), so Elliot and his friends come up with a plan to rescue their new friend. It’s going to take a lot of teamwork. Can Elliot, Crash, Chip, and Twitch save Mister Nibbles before it’s too late?

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Animals, Picture Books, Juvenile

80 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

I have been a lifelong writer and storyteller. Salem, Oregon is where I spent my formative years and I graduated from Willamette University. After college, I spent a decade living in Portland, Oregon where I worked in advertising, game design, and technology.

I've written young adult and children's books for Scholastic, Little Brown Books For Young Readers and Katherine Tegen Books/ HarperCollins Publishers.

I've been fortunate enough to have had some bestselling series work: The Land of Elyon, Atherton, Elliot’s Park, 39 Clues, and Skeleton Creek. Here's a fun note...the books have been translated into approximately two dozen languages. Currently I'm developing a few new-media projects. Check out DARK EDEN to experience this type of cross-platform project.

When I'm not writing or creating a story, I spend my free time supporting literacy campaigns and community organizations, fly fishing, playing basketball and tennis, doing crosswords, watching movies, dabbling in video games, reading (lots), and (more than anything else) spending time with my wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patrick Carman created these stories for his daughter while visiting the real Pioneer Park in Walla Walla, Washington. This first book in the wonderful world of Elliot's Park, is about a great adventure for the squirrels of Elliot's Park. The vast cast of characters including: Elliot the book worm with glasses who loves collared shirts, wide ties and solving problems, Mister Nibbles who is a most unusual squirrel who is introduced in the adventure, Roscoe and Coconut the two dog's from the yellow house across the street who love to chase Elliot and his friends, Scratchy Spurs a former rodeo star squirrel with a cowboy hat, spurs and a stick cane, and Sparkle the stargazer who often gets into trouble with the Owls, and many many others. The book has a cast of characters in the back of the key players from the whole series.

In this story the squirrel's of Elliot's Park, are amazed and incensed when a child receives a squirrel as a present at a birthday party held in the park. Elliot and his friends decide that this squirrel must be liberated. So they have Crash the only flying squirrel in the park follow when the party pack's up. They discover that Mr. Nibbles has been taken to the yellow house across the street. The home of Roscoe and Coconut two ferocious squirrel chasing dogs. Elliot can not think of a way to save Mr. Nibbles, so he visits his friend Scratchy, and comes up with a plan. But can the squirrels of Elliot's Park, leave the park and rescue Mr. Nibbles. Read this story and find out!

These books will captivate children of all ages from 5 to 105. I even read it to my two year old and she stayed captivated by the story. The artwork by Jim Madsen is excellent, and children will love his representations of the adventures of the squirrell's. And as an added bonus there are exercises at the end of the book, to create fun for a family or class. In this book they include:
o Elliot and Chip's Trail Mix (GORP)
o Create Your Own Elliot's Park Adventure
o Sparkle's Starry Night
The book concludes with a preview chapter of the next book The Haunted Hike. Pick up this book by award winning author Patrick Carman for he has created a wonderful world for young readers and for the whole family in these books.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED these books for my kids! The story may not be the best ever (though I thought the whole series was cute and fun) but they were interesting to my kids. My favorite thing about them was that they were easy for my kids to jump into reading mainly by themselves after phonics learning to read! So many chapter books go too advanced too quickly with words for new readers. These were my kids first chapter books and written appropriately for beginner readers to be able to sound out most things on their own. So maybe they don’t have the best plot, but when writing at that level you are somewhat limited and I thought he did a great job. These books really made my kids feel like they could read on their own!

[Diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was horrifically lame. I mean, I read a lot of kids books, and early readers do tend to be iffy, but this was a less than stellar example. There were too many characters, and any squirrel smart enough to do the things they do here should be able to tell the difference between a real squirrel and a toy. I mean, body heat, people???

On the bright side, it was short...

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

C. fiction, children's fiction, grade 2, animal story

[Ashley Polansky]

Title: Saving Mister Nibbles
Author: Patrick Carman
Illustrator: Jim Madsen
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Theme(s): Mystery, friends, rescue, trickery, teamwork
Opening line/sentence: Go along “shouted Elliot”. His best friend Chip faked right, flipped in the air, and raced out under the trees.
Brief Book Summary: Elliot, the squirrel, tries to save a toy squirrel (Mister Nibbles, which he thinks is real) given to a child at a birthday party. He wants to get the squirrel from the boy’s house and rescue him. Each of his friends aid in the mission and they try to distract the humans so they can get to the squirrel. All of the characters have different personalities but together they make a great time.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1: Children's Literature - Carrie Hane Hung
There is a birthday party in Elliot's park. One of the birthday presents is a squirrel named Mister Nibbles. Elliot and his squirrel friends plan a way to save Mister Nibbles. What they do not seem to know is that Mister Nibbles is a stuffed animal that talks when its ear is squeezed. Crash, the flying squirrel, follows Mister Nibbles as the boy takes the stuffed squirrel home. Rescuing Mister Nibbles is not an easy task for Elliot and his friends once they get inside the boy's house. There are illustrations of this squirrel rescue adventure. The endpapers provide an overview of Elliot's park. The cast of characters appear at the end of the story with brief descriptions and, in most cases, a picture of each squirrel character. There are a few activities in the back of the book. For example, one can make Elliot and Chip's Trail Mix with the recipe that is included, create their own adventure in Elliot's Park, or make a tree constellation. This story is the first of Elliot's adventures; there is a preview of Elliot's next adventure. Check out the website which provides a look of the actual park that inspired Elliot's Park. Reviewer: Carrie Hane Hung
Professional Recommendation/Review #2: Kirkus Reviews
Elliot, a squirrel who wears glasses and clothing and lives in a park with his friends, loves solving problems. When one of the park squirrels observes a human's birthday party in which a stuffed squirrel is one of the gifts, the furry friends set out on a mission to rescue the squirrel, one Mister Nibbles. These squirrels cleverly distract humans with flashlights, dancing and rodeo-riding stunts, but, oddly, they are not smart enough to see that the unmoving Mister Nibbles is a stuffed animal who talks only when his ear is touched. Cartoonish spot drawings, reminiscent of Chip and Dale, dot many spreads, but do not raise this tale above the merely average. Choppy dialogue, short, stilted sentences and paragraphs that are rarely longer than one sentence seem designed for the new reader, but the huge number of characters and unbelievable plotline will be difficult for that reader to understand. For a much more satisfying fantasy of wildlife in a city park, read Johanna Hurwitz's charming Pee Wee and Plush (2002). (Fiction. 5-7)
Response to Two Professional Reviews: These reviews seem to have different opinions of this book. The first review enjoyed the book and thought that it was a good story line, with each of the characters adding humor to the book. However, the second review saw the number of characters as too confusing for beginner readers, and felt that there are other books out there that are more suited for children.
Evaluation of Literary Elements: Throughout this story I see dialogue between the characters. Characterization is a huge element in this book because we learn about each of the squirrels. They all have very different personalities and act in various ways. This helps the reader to picture, understand, and relate more to the characters in the book.
Consideration of Instructional Application: This book could be used in the classroom in various ways. We could discuss the steps the squirrels had tot think about when conducting their plan to save the toy squirrel. This could lead to the discussion of thinking and planning before taking action. We can come up with something in the classroom we want to change, or something in the school we don’t like, and think about how we could change it. We could go about this by making lists, talking to different people, taking action, etc. I think this is a good way to show children that they have to be organized and think about all the details that go into making something happen before they do it. This could be seen even within their writing, how they should organize their thoughts into lists, Venn diagrams, graphic organizers, etc.

[Joenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed with this reader. First off, there were a ton of characters! Even I was having a hard time keeping track off all of them. The illustrations in the book are black and white, while the cover is in bright colors, which doesn't make much sense to me. The story was cute. Squirrels try to save what they think is another squirrel, when in reality, the squirrel is a toy for a boy's birthday.

[Duane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story of this book, but the illustrations are a major drawback to me. The cover gives the reader a false impression of wonderful pictures inside, but that's far from the facts. The story line follows a group of squirrels who want to rescue another squirrel they see in the park. The problem is, the squirrel is actually a toy stuffed animal. The story is funny and well done, but the poor illustrations really stunt this book.

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was quirky and fun. I found it quite funny that the squirrels didn't realize that Mr. Nibbles was just a toy. As with many chapter books, the cover is colorful and the illustrations inside are black and white. It doesn't take away from the story in my opinion.

[Christian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't really like this book.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

First title in the "Elliott's Park" series by Patrick Carman - funny situations and cute animal friends. Perfect as a read-aloud and for readers ages 5-7.

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 6 year old son really enjoyed the story. Adventures with squirrels. Not too scary with some fun characters.

[Hillvan]

490L

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly entertaining entry in the Elliott Park early chapter book. The squirrel gang rescues a squirrel that turns out to be a talking stuffed animal.

[Kendra Oree · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute book to read. I loved that the main character was a squirrel, because in most books, the main character would be a dog or cat. But the setting of this book was the house across the street from Elliot's Park. I would use this book to teach about the fantasy genre.