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Unlimited Squirrels #5
The FRUSTRATING Book!
From Mo Willems, creator of the revolutionary, award-winning, best-selling Elephant & Piggie books, comes this breakout beginning-reader series, Unlimited Squirrels.
An ensemble cast of Squirrels, Acorns, and pop-in guests hosts a page-turning extravaganza. Each book features a funny, furry adventure AND bonus jokes, quirky quizzes, nutty facts, and so, so many Squirrels.
In The FRUSTRATING Book!, Zoom Squirrel wants to feel brand new emotions. The Squirrel pals know just what to do! But what happens if Zoomy doesn’t like these new feelings? Do you know more about feelings than the Squirrels do? You will by the end of this book!
An ensemble cast of Squirrels, Acorns, and pop-in guests hosts a page-turning extravaganza. Each book features a funny, furry adventure AND bonus jokes, quirky quizzes, nutty facts, and so, so many Squirrels.
In The FRUSTRATING Book!, Zoom Squirrel wants to feel brand new emotions. The Squirrel pals know just what to do! But what happens if Zoomy doesn’t like these new feelings? Do you know more about feelings than the Squirrels do? You will by the end of this book!
96 pages, Hardcover
Published September 27, 2022
3 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Mo Willems
232 books4,115 followers#1 New York Times Bestselling author and illustrator Mo Willems is best known for his Caldecott Honor winning picture books Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Knuffle Bunny: a cautionary tale.
In addition to such picture books as Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, and Time to Pee, Mo has created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of early readers, and published You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons, an annotated cartoon journal sketched during a year-long voyage around the world in 1990-91.
The New York Times Book Review called Mo “the biggest new talent to emerge thus far in the 00's."
Mo’s work books have been translated into a myriad of languages, spawned animated shorts and theatrical musical productions, and his illustrations, wire sculpture, and carved ceramics have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the nation.
Mo began his career as a writer and animator for television, garnering 6 Emmy awards for his writing on Sesame Street, creating Nickelodeon's The Off-Beats, Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City and head-writing Codename: Kids Next Door.
He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.
In addition to such picture books as Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, and Time to Pee, Mo has created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of early readers, and published You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons, an annotated cartoon journal sketched during a year-long voyage around the world in 1990-91.
The New York Times Book Review called Mo “the biggest new talent to emerge thus far in the 00's."
Mo’s work books have been translated into a myriad of languages, spawned animated shorts and theatrical musical productions, and his illustrations, wire sculpture, and carved ceramics have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the nation.
Mo began his career as a writer and animator for television, garnering 6 Emmy awards for his writing on Sesame Street, creating Nickelodeon's The Off-Beats, Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City and head-writing Codename: Kids Next Door.
He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
November 16, 2025
Mo Willems delivers another solid book stuffed with the clever, corny, funny, and frustrating antics of his scurry of squirrels.
Learn about negative emotions like frustration and disappointment while laughing whole time.
Learn about negative emotions like frustration and disappointment while laughing whole time.
July 16, 2023
Oh, fun! Squirrels who demonstrate what frustrating is like and an idea how to deal with it! I’m going to bring it out to my grandson and get his reaction so might write more then!
November 30, 2022
A lot of the children this year have been having trouble with low frustration tolerance, which is always true to an extent but seems worse after the lockdowns. This is a great book to help kids understand that feeling, since it is fairly complex.
December 1, 2022
Kinda frustrating...
October 28, 2022
Lives up to it's name with no table of contents and never explaining what words mean. That make me feel so ... so ... I don't know the word.
August 5, 2025
A fun take on a frustrating topic.
July 12, 2024
This was my least favorite book in the series so far. It's a chapter book written like the other one ones in the series but it's missing the table of contents.
It starts with a longer silly story about Zoom Squirrel learning about feelings. Two of his friends ask if he's ever been disappointed. He's not sure so he tells them to disappoint him. They say they can't do it right now and that he needs to make a disappointment appointment (so he obviously just learned what it means to be disappointed which then led to frustration).
It has a few corny jokes (Example: What did the rock say to the other rock? Nothing. Rocks cannot talk).
Research Rodent asks the squirrels what they do when they feel frustrated. They said take a deep breath, try to solve a problem in a new way, and count their lucky stars. They asked Research Rodent what he does when he's frustrated and he said research.
This book didn't have any of the facts that the other books in the series have had.
It starts with a longer silly story about Zoom Squirrel learning about feelings. Two of his friends ask if he's ever been disappointed. He's not sure so he tells them to disappoint him. They say they can't do it right now and that he needs to make a disappointment appointment (so he obviously just learned what it means to be disappointed which then led to frustration).
It has a few corny jokes (Example: What did the rock say to the other rock? Nothing. Rocks cannot talk).
Research Rodent asks the squirrels what they do when they feel frustrated. They said take a deep breath, try to solve a problem in a new way, and count their lucky stars. They asked Research Rodent what he does when he's frustrated and he said research.
This book didn't have any of the facts that the other books in the series have had.
May 30, 2024
Aggressively entertaining. Relentlessly educational about human emotions. Who better to star in this over-the-top book than a whole lot of squirrels???
Readers are treated to an explanation of what it means to feel... frustration.
Is this really a book? Is the intention really to help readers to learn about the emotion of frustration?
Sincerity has been swapped out for cuteness. This reads like a comic book on steroids, an obnoxious comic book on steroids.
Rating this book though?
My policy is to rate books based on the likely reactions of the intended readers.
These would be people who are more likely to learn when there's a large serving of sugar in every bite, as it were. Even learning about a topic like FRUSTRATION has to be cute, cute, cute.
FIVE STARS, then. Because it takes all kinds to make a world of Goodreaders.
Readers are treated to an explanation of what it means to feel... frustration.
Is this really a book? Is the intention really to help readers to learn about the emotion of frustration?
Sincerity has been swapped out for cuteness. This reads like a comic book on steroids, an obnoxious comic book on steroids.
Rating this book though?
My policy is to rate books based on the likely reactions of the intended readers.
These would be people who are more likely to learn when there's a large serving of sugar in every bite, as it were. Even learning about a topic like FRUSTRATION has to be cute, cute, cute.
FIVE STARS, then. Because it takes all kinds to make a world of Goodreaders.
January 12, 2024
Who else but Mo Willems could come up with such endearing SEL characters as those in this first Unlimited Squirrel title? In a format similar to Elephant and Piggie, with speech in speech bubbles, font size changes, and a variety of uses of colors to denote moods and emotions, two squirrel friends try to sell Zoom Squirrel some new emotions ~~ disappointment and frustration ~~ but their try becomes complicated. First, Zoom does not have a disappointment appointment. Then the 2 can't find the feelings anywhere, causing Zoom to get... you guessed it: frustrated. End matter and even a hint of text features (sable of contents, anyone) bring silly kid appeal to this beginning reader title.
October 25, 2022
I love the art in unlimited squirrels. It has a layered paper look to it. But the stories are a little too frenetic for me. They are fun, but intense.
In this one, two squirrels are selling feelings to a third. There's some nice comedic timing and plenty of opportunities to talk about feelings, specifically about happy, disappointed, frustrated, and love.
In this one, two squirrels are selling feelings to a third. There's some nice comedic timing and plenty of opportunities to talk about feelings, specifically about happy, disappointed, frustrated, and love.
November 22, 2022
This book has less extraneous material than some of the other Unlimited Squirrels books, and the central story is strong, humorous, and reminiscent of Charlie Brown getting infuriated with Lucy at her psychiatric help booth. It's clever and funny, and would have been even stronger without the standard interruptions along the way.
December 30, 2022
Emotions can be both fun to share but sometimes more embarrassing than fun. But emotions help other people and ourselves understand how we feel and hopefully we can deal with them nicely. Squirrels are cute and since usually happy seem a good family of animals to use for this story. A cute way to learn how to deal with frustration.
January 21, 2023
This is my favorite book in the Unlimited Squirrels series by Willems.
The squirrels model various feelings with their usual humor. The facial expressions are an important part of the overall story. Young readers will appreciate the easy to follow dialogue and the corny jokes interspersed with the stories.
The squirrels model various feelings with their usual humor. The facial expressions are an important part of the overall story. Young readers will appreciate the easy to follow dialogue and the corny jokes interspersed with the stories.
March 30, 2023
I loved this book!!! Why, you may ask ?! Through a descriptive means Mo Willems and his little squirrelly friends take the reader on a path of truly feeling the two emotions that little ones may find hard to describe….frustration and disappointment. These two emotions can be very difficult for children to pinpoint but with the help of this book they are sure to understand.
October 22, 2022
Shave off the frame of weirdness and a-corny jokes at the beginning and end of the book to get to the humorous story about emotions reminiscent of Lucy's advice booth in Charlie Brown. Two squirrels are offering new feelings at their feelings stand.
November 7, 2022
Very good book for helping kids understand feelings. I imagine this one would be plenty entertaining enough for the target age-group but still good at helping them to understand and recognize what they and others might be feeling. Great job to the author!
November 30, 2022
Two Squirrel friends try and teach Zoom Squirrel some new feelings while Happy Squirrel waits patiently to say his lines for the story in the book. Some corny jokes about rocks are scattered about throughout the story.
December 21, 2022
The Unlimited Squirrels series hits another one out of the park with this cute story on being frustrated. Kids will relate to the characters feelings from their everyday experiences and might learn a lesson on how to defeat these feelings in a positive way.
August 29, 2023
Very fun to read with my niece, and let us put words to feelings!
I actively dislike the "Acorn-y jokes" at the end (even though they are indeed corny). My four-year-old niece didn't get them. Brings the reading experience to a dead stop, and cost the book a star.
I actively dislike the "Acorn-y jokes" at the end (even though they are indeed corny). My four-year-old niece didn't get them. Brings the reading experience to a dead stop, and cost the book a star.
October 23, 2023
The squirrels are exploring feelings. 2 of them are helping Zoom squirrel learn what frustration, disappointment and other feelings are...or are they?
A cute little exploration of feelings on beyond the basic happy and sad, done in a sly and funny way.
A cute little exploration of feelings on beyond the basic happy and sad, done in a sly and funny way.
October 30, 2023
The squirrels are together and they are discussing what disappointed and frustate means. There's sure to be laughs as they talk through and experience it together, with some pointers at the end of the book as to how to deal with frustration as well.
May 11, 2024
This book has been very insightful to see how a character, a squirrel in this case, go from happy and calm to getting really frustrated.
It is a really good read for everyone!
Henry Reads This Book On YouTube
It is a really good read for everyone!
Henry Reads This Book On YouTube
June 28, 2022
I think some of the rock jokes may go over the intended audience's heads, but overall I enjoyed this book on feelings.
July 20, 2022
Good opener for discussing emotions
August 31, 2022
I felt so bad for happy squirrel.
October 26, 2022
I like Mo Willems but, I did find that this book lived up to the title.
October 28, 2022
Willems is so artfully subtle in getting the social-emotional learning across that kids won't even realize what they're picking up on. His illustrations, as usual, are an expressive delight.
November 13, 2022
Readers who love Mo Willems' books will be frustrated by all the strange elements of the book and the confusing plot. Too many squirrels, too many distractions. I found it a frustrating book indeed.
November 30, 2022
Another funny book from the amazing Mo Willems.
December 13, 2022
Cute, but not amazing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews