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Twitch the Squirrel #2
Squirrel in the House
A gleefully oblivious Squirrel narrates this rib-tickling chapter book about how he turns a family get together upside-down.
Squirrel, the chief mischief maker from 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel / 1 Dog = Chaos is ready to party. He enters Cuddles-the-dog s house through a special entrance for squirrels on the roof, aka the chimney. Holiday festivities are soon in shambles, and Cuddles, the presumed culprit, is banished to the basement. Meanwhile, the littlest human runs away into a snowstorm unnoticed by everyone except Squirrel.
Long-suffering Cuddles must team up with the willfully obtuse Squirrel to rescue the child in this comical story told from a squirrel-centric point of view."
Squirrel, the chief mischief maker from 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel / 1 Dog = Chaos is ready to party. He enters Cuddles-the-dog s house through a special entrance for squirrels on the roof, aka the chimney. Holiday festivities are soon in shambles, and Cuddles, the presumed culprit, is banished to the basement. Meanwhile, the littlest human runs away into a snowstorm unnoticed by everyone except Squirrel.
Long-suffering Cuddles must team up with the willfully obtuse Squirrel to rescue the child in this comical story told from a squirrel-centric point of view."
78 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2016
11 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Vivian Vande Velde
51 books995 followersVivian Vande Velde (born 1951, currently residing in Rochester, New York) is an American author who writes books primarily aimed at young adults.
Her novels and short story collections usually have some element of horror or fantasy, but are primarily humorous. Her book Never Trust a Dead Man (1999) received the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She says that she really likes to write for children. She likes to do school talks to children. She does many book conventions and also gives writing classes.
Her novels and short story collections usually have some element of horror or fantasy, but are primarily humorous. Her book Never Trust a Dead Man (1999) received the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She says that she really likes to write for children. She likes to do school talks to children. She does many book conventions and also gives writing classes.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 15, 2016
This book is so funny. We read it together as a family and had such fun watching this squirrel cause chaos, but it was also pretty heartwarming. It was a fun mix of many things and my family and I think it was really great! It could be a new family read together favorite!
August 13, 2016
A squirrel who suffers from no lack of self-esteem is caught foodless on a snowy day and decides to visit the home of the dog in the yard next door. clearly an invitation was issued with all the dog's barking. Besides, they have a squirrel entry hall in that tall brick thing, and the logs at the bottom are obviously designed to make the squirrel feel at home, as are the nuts in the dish. Mayhem ensues, a child is endangered, a rescue is mounted, and all ends reasonably well. This story reads as fast as a squirrel dashing through a house. There's never a moment without action. It would be a dandy read-aloud for students as it's a great example of first-person perspective, and voice.
May 13, 2017
First sentence: The dog who lives next door to the yard where I live tells me that people call dogs "man's best friend." Well, actually, the dog doesn't so much tell me this as he yells it. Usually while he's chasing me.
Premise/plot: Squirrel in the House is narrated by a squirrel, Twitch. He would never normally think about going INSIDE but on one cold wintry day, he does just that. He goes down the chimney and into the house of Cuddles' master's house. The dog is, I believe, the first to notice--perhaps the second. Also taking note of the squirrel is a young child. But it isn't just any day, the master has a LOT of people--family presumably--over to celebrate for some reason. (The squirrel doesn't quite grasp humans.) When the dog is locked up in the basement, and the young child punished for destroying the living room, I believe, the child runs away. The squirrel notices that the boy is dressed for the inside but in the outside and worries. He follows the child, and, when the boy collapses, it's up to the squirrel to alert the family and save the day. But who will listen to a squirrel?!
My thoughts: This is a fun and quick read. Twitch is an entertaining narrator. He loves the human party--especially the pre-shelled nuts. He develops a taste for potato chips and cupcakes too. What kind of tree do they come from, he wonders!
Premise/plot: Squirrel in the House is narrated by a squirrel, Twitch. He would never normally think about going INSIDE but on one cold wintry day, he does just that. He goes down the chimney and into the house of Cuddles' master's house. The dog is, I believe, the first to notice--perhaps the second. Also taking note of the squirrel is a young child. But it isn't just any day, the master has a LOT of people--family presumably--over to celebrate for some reason. (The squirrel doesn't quite grasp humans.) When the dog is locked up in the basement, and the young child punished for destroying the living room, I believe, the child runs away. The squirrel notices that the boy is dressed for the inside but in the outside and worries. He follows the child, and, when the boy collapses, it's up to the squirrel to alert the family and save the day. But who will listen to a squirrel?!
My thoughts: This is a fun and quick read. Twitch is an entertaining narrator. He loves the human party--especially the pre-shelled nuts. He develops a taste for potato chips and cupcakes too. What kind of tree do they come from, he wonders!
December 26, 2016
VandeVelde, Vivian Squirrel In The House 80 pages. Holiday House, 2016. $15.95. Content: G Language: G Mature Content: G
Twitch the Squirrel enjoys living outside until he’s realized that he’s eaten up all of the food he’s stored for the winter and he’s very cold. So he decides to pay his friend Cuddles the dog a visit, whose human family is having a holiday celebration. When Squirrel enters the house he creates lots of chaos and no one notices one of the little boys leaving the house. When the young boy gets stranded in the snow it is up to Squirrel and Cuddles to save him.
This story is narrated by Squirrel, giving the reader an animal’s humorous perspective on things. This book is a follow-up to Vande’s 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel ÷ 1 Dog = Chaos, but is able to be read as a stand-alone. This is a fun, humorous read which my eight- year-old son enjoyed very much.
EL (K-3) – ADVISABLE. Reviewer: Nancy W.
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2016/...
Twitch the Squirrel enjoys living outside until he’s realized that he’s eaten up all of the food he’s stored for the winter and he’s very cold. So he decides to pay his friend Cuddles the dog a visit, whose human family is having a holiday celebration. When Squirrel enters the house he creates lots of chaos and no one notices one of the little boys leaving the house. When the young boy gets stranded in the snow it is up to Squirrel and Cuddles to save him.
This story is narrated by Squirrel, giving the reader an animal’s humorous perspective on things. This book is a follow-up to Vande’s 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel ÷ 1 Dog = Chaos, but is able to be read as a stand-alone. This is a fun, humorous read which my eight- year-old son enjoyed very much.
EL (K-3) – ADVISABLE. Reviewer: Nancy W.
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2016/...
April 30, 2019
Squirrel is sure his life is just perfect—better than the dog’s and definitely better than the people who live in the house by his tree. But on a cold, snowy day he decides to venture inside. The ensuing chaos is hilarious!
My son chortled at this one, and even I laughed aloud. Because the book is written from Squirrel's point of view, readers get to enjoy not just the slapstick humor of the chase, but the ironic humor that comes from contrasting squirrel's perspective on the situation with what the obvious human perspective is. And there is a sweet little lesson in humility and kindness to boot. With relatively easy text and short chapters, this is a perfect book for practicing oral reading (approx. 2nd-4th grade).
My son chortled at this one, and even I laughed aloud. Because the book is written from Squirrel's point of view, readers get to enjoy not just the slapstick humor of the chase, but the ironic humor that comes from contrasting squirrel's perspective on the situation with what the obvious human perspective is. And there is a sweet little lesson in humility and kindness to boot. With relatively easy text and short chapters, this is a perfect book for practicing oral reading (approx. 2nd-4th grade).
June 17, 2022
Rather slight, in my probably jaded opinion, but still fun. I do like books that show different perspectives, another point of view. And a funny book about how the squirrel sees the world definitely needs to be read by every self-centered child who thinks the world revolves around them.
I probably would have liked this even more if I'd encountered it while young. After all, I sure did like Socks (and still do, and still recommend it).
I probably would have liked this even more if I'd encountered it while young. After all, I sure did like Socks (and still do, and still recommend it).
November 18, 2019
This book was recommended to me by my daughter, who said it was super funny. She's right. It's hilarious. We're still making jokes about it.
Great for first graders. Fun for grown-ups. Useful (I imagine) for well-educated squirrels.
Great for first graders. Fun for grown-ups. Useful (I imagine) for well-educated squirrels.
August 25, 2017
Good for a beginning reader. I wanted a bit more humor.
March 3, 2019
A fun, easy read aloud for my 7 year old
May 9, 2019
winter book chat
July 20, 2019
Second book in the schoolhouse squirrel series..my kids loved it..not as much as the first one...but looking forward to the 3rd one.
January 18, 2020
Cute story
November 20, 2020
One of L's books.It was the perfect blend of slapstick and ridiculous misunderstandings for her taste. The only thing that could have added to it would have a been a tiger.
November 10, 2021
This was hilarious!!! Kids LOVED it!
March 28, 2023
Read aloud to my two little boys- fun and entertaining
March 29, 2023
Funny read aloud!
March 14, 2017
Cute, short chapter book. I think 2nd thru 4th graders would enjoy this.
February 27, 2023
2nd book in the series, read out loud to family and everyone loved it. Very funny.
February 21, 2017
I love this author. There has not been anything by her yet that I've disliked. With that said, this story was a nice addition of 8 Class Pets. I'm super excited to have read this because I think my daughter will fall in love with the story. Told in a rather 'Squirrel' like manner, the story is fast paced, funny and easy to read. Not one of my favorites for me personally, but I think my daughter will just eat this book right up.
August 24, 2016
In this follow-up to the hilarious 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel...it's holiday time during the winter. Squirrel hasn't been particularly successful with finding the nuts he buried earlier in the year, and he's feeling rather hungry. When his search brings him to the chimney of the house where Cuddles, a dog, lives, he figures that the dog and his human companions have provided that entrance point as a way to welcome him. After he climbs down the chimney, all sorts of chaos ensues. One youngster and Cuddles get most of the blame with Squirrel escaping everyone's notice. But a turn of events leads Squirrel to save the day when the little boy heads outside and becomes disoriented in the snow. While this isn't necessarily the type of book I'd read every day, it is a great read aloud filled with squirrel's distinctive voice and over-inflated sense of self as well as poor Cuddles being thwarted in his efforts to defend his home from the pesky squirrel. The text and black and white illustrations will have just about everyone totally amused and racing through those book pages to see how Squirrel gets out of this mess--or more likely, how he makes even more mess.
December 15, 2016
Twitch the Squirrel enjoys living outside until he’s realized that he’s eaten up all of the food he’s stored for the winter and he’s very cold. So he decides to pay his friend Cuddles the dog a visit, whose human family is having a holiday celebration. When Squirrel enters the house he creates lots of chaos and no one notices one of the little boys leaving the house. When the young boy gets stranded in the snow it is up to Squirrel and Cuddles to save him.
This story is narrated by Squirrel, giving the reader an animal’s humorous perspective on things. This book is a follow-up to Vande’s 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel ÷ 1 Dog = Chaos, but is able to be read as a stand-alone. This is a fun, humorous read which my eight- year-old son enjoyed very much.
Original review can be found here:
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/searc...
This story is narrated by Squirrel, giving the reader an animal’s humorous perspective on things. This book is a follow-up to Vande’s 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel ÷ 1 Dog = Chaos, but is able to be read as a stand-alone. This is a fun, humorous read which my eight- year-old son enjoyed very much.
Original review can be found here:
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/searc...
December 18, 2016
This is a book for elementary school kids. This is a book for elementary school kids. This is a book for elementary school kids.
After reminding my adult self of this, I added a star. After all, I read this book with my 2nd grade son, and he really liked the story. There are quite a few (funny) pictures throughout the book, and he was able to read it aloud to me easily, which was nice.
It was enjoyable to read a book with my son that captured his imagination and attention. Despite my initial concerns, Squirrel does have a fairly nice plot, and we discover that squirrels (or at least this one) are capable of empathy, at least toward humans. Ridiculous fun.
After reminding my adult self of this, I added a star. After all, I read this book with my 2nd grade son, and he really liked the story. There are quite a few (funny) pictures throughout the book, and he was able to read it aloud to me easily, which was nice.
It was enjoyable to read a book with my son that captured his imagination and attention. Despite my initial concerns, Squirrel does have a fairly nice plot, and we discover that squirrels (or at least this one) are capable of empathy, at least toward humans. Ridiculous fun.
February 9, 2017
This is a hilarious early chapter book that my son read out loud to me over the course of several days. We both greatly enjoyed it and laughed a lot.
September 29, 2023
Kyle's recommendation
September 27, 2016
A funny, lively, imaginative read. Told from the perspective of the squirrel, his take on everything is hilarious. You can really imagine a squirrel reasoning and thinking this way. I really enjoyed it. Good stepping stone for early readers.
October 3, 2016
Squirrel has some misguided and humorous ideas about dogs and humans. In this story, he gets inside a house through the chimney and finds food, getting the dog in trouble. A little boy get lost in a snow storm and Squirrel rousts the dog to help the boy.
January 30, 2017
This book was a lot of fun to read with my 6yr old. He laughed harder at some of Twitch's internal monologues than I've even seen while reading Mad Libs with him. The only problem with this book was that it wasn't longer.
March 14, 2019
My 7yo thought this book was hilarious and I chuckled along with her as I read. A great read aloud story or first chapter book. I even saw my 11yo reading it.
My 7yo loved it so much, we just finished reading it again.
My 7yo loved it so much, we just finished reading it again.
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October 8, 2016ARL 4.4 AR pts 1 KSP
Very clever story how a squirrel might see our world.
Very clever story how a squirrel might see our world.
December 31, 2016
Really a fun book for a newly independent reader.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews