Bee's Book Reviews: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

Welcome to the first (and hopefully not last) of my book reviews. Before I jump into this I should mention that this is exactly what I am going to do.... jump into it. This will be a trial run of reviews and it should be noted that it may be: incomplete, inconsistent, nonsensical, etc. As with many things, practice makes perfect. It should also be noted that I am also not feeling 100% today. More than likely, I am coming down with another famous winter bug. Regardless, perhaps some literary expression on my part will have a secondary healing process. More than likely, though, it won't.

I digress.

I have been setting a series of goals for 2014. One of these is to really get back into reading. I have set a massively insane goal of reading 100 books this year. I realize that for some, this goal is most certainly attainable. The fact that I am a teacher of English should also make this much easier.

It won't.

I will try my best to deliver a review without spoiling story elements for potential readers. I will then rate each book from 1-5 certain items that may or may not fill the mood. This review, being a test of sorts, will be completely impromptu. I will attempt not to edit as much as I am attempting to create a baseline for future reviews.

The first in this list of 100 books is Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris.

Not being an avid Sedaris reader, I was not certain what to expect. In fact, the first time I had heard about this author was through the teacher I was working with during my student teaching in 2009. He told me to get all of his books because they were the best he had ever read. I, of course, stated my overall interest in getting these books that were so vehemently suggested. I found this one, about a year later, in the bargain bin at my local Barnes & Noble. I figured it was worth the couple of bucks and was totally digging the cover. The illustrations contained within contain the same sort of whimsical animals engaging in human situations. It took me about four years to finally take it off the bookshelf and read it. It was quite short and I got through it in little over a day. 

The book itself is split into numerous short stories that are reminiscent of Aesop's Fables in an unusual way. Each story, meant to have some sort of moral by the end, are only a few pages long. After reading the first of these stories, I had a good chuckle. Few books give me that sort of "laugh out loud" sort of reaction that this one did. I was excited to dig a little deeper into this one.

Unfortunately, as I progressed, the stories moved from a sort of lighthearted humor to something much more dark. Many play with the notion on how humans treat each other and some actually made me uncomfortable. There is still that comedic undertone that comes with each story, but it is followed by a period of what I can only describe as self-loathing towards my species. The animals in each story have distinctly pronounced human foibles. Examples include a hen with a enormous lack of self-confidence and a hairdressing, compulsively lying baboon. As previously stated, it is assumed that there is some lesson learned by the character at the end of each story... even if that character is left a bloody heap of flesh by the end. 

At times, however, it seemed that no moral is present and the character just dies. There is quite a bit of death imagery in this book. I did enjoy how Sedaris poked fun at death as well as life with everyday situations. I could actually relate to some of these stories on some level. Admitting this is just making me more uncomfortable.

Cat and Baboon

The book is written with large font and interesting illustrations by Ian Falconer. In my opinion, the illustrations become increasingly more uncomfortable as you progress. This may have been planned to induce laughter, but just made me uncomfortable. In fact, for the first time that I can remember, finishing this book and setting it down left me with an extremely uncomfortable feeling. I wasn't sure how to reflect, if at all, about its events or morals. 

I give Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris "Three Rhinoceroses" for reasons that you will understand if you take the time to read it. If you are looking for a quick and interesting read, I suggest picking this one up. Just be warned that it evoked some certainly strange reactions out of me... I have been informed by a co-worker that Sedaris's audiobooks of his works where he, himself, narrates are usually better than actually reading them. If I get my hands on the audiobook, I shall give it a listen.

Four Hours in Fourth Grade

Greetings and salutations,

The past few months have certainly been busy busy for me. My new job is a continuous stream of paperwork. I, now, feel as though I have mastered surfing waves of paperwork. If not mastered... then at least gotten used to.

The start of the new year also means the start of a new FIRST robotics season. My school returns for their Sophomore year in this program. While I do love robots and all... The sudden doubling in my hours in the work week has totally worn me out. While my diet of mainly avocados seems to have staved off any form of influenza, I have just recently recovered from an incredibly stubborn cold that reminded me of typhoid fever. This little bug totally incapacitated my usual calm persona and brought forth a snarly nasty boy with a constant red nose.

That... and some cough syrup?

Now that I have fully recovered, (for the most part) I figured that I had better start updating my blog that I had hyped up to much to the masses so many months ago. February will be the month of reviews. Within the next week, expect a book review on a novel that I have just recently finished. "Across the Universe" is part one of a dystopian trilogy. I eagerly await writing such a review!

Could not put this one down!

In conclusion, I am back. Remember that we are all in this together. I see great things in our future. Now for the obligatory picture of my new bow ties.

Huge sale at JcPenney

To eat the omelet, turn to Page 86.

For my inaugural post dedicated to literature, I have decided to delve into a series of books that I hold very dear. The "Choose Your Own Adventure" series was a childhood favorite of mine. For those who may be unaware, this series of books, most popular during the 1990's, placed the reader as the protagonist. The first few pages read like an ordinary novel but would then abruptly stop and give the reader two or more choices. These choices would then lead the reader to another page of the book to continue the story. The choices made would ultimately affect the outcome of the story. Back in the early nineties, this was the closest thing we had to "interactive." That, and Sega Genesis.

I remember many years ago in middle school going down to the library during class each Thursday to return and pick out a new book for the week. Truth be told, I was never much of a reader in my youth. Sure, I read the books in school... for the most part. But my idea of fun on a Saturday seldom involved a good book. I enjoyed very short stories. Books with a lot of pictures were also a plus. Because of this, I would often take out books in the EyeWitness series (A series that I shall talk more about later!).

On with the flashback!!!!

So, there he was. A chubby ten year old boy wandering around a simple looking school library looking for something interesting to read and/or flip through. Suddenly he comes upon a small white book with a funny cover. The book was called, "The Cave of Time." I remember the cover had some kid in a green shirt riding a horse in front of a ghoulishly looking bearded figure.

Just. Awesome.

The Cave of Time was the first in
the Choose Your Own Adventure series

It has been many years since I have read this book so I cannot really remember what it was about. I do, however, know that it involved time travel. Time travel, as we all know, is the coolest thing ever. With forty different endings... it was like reading forty books! It was slightly overwhelming for me at the time to even fathom. While I cannot recall the overall plot of the story, I can certainly remember the story ending in my death several times. These stories were notorious for having dozens of endings that ended in gloom and doom.

Certain death.

Bad endings.

Often times I would sneak a peak at a choice to see if it lead to the good ending or to my certain demise. Today that would be considered cheating by my standards. At the time, however, it was called...

Skill.


Needless to say, I would spent many more library days choosing new books in this series until I had read them all. It certainly piqued my interest in reading in general as well as in science fiction. Soon after this, I moved onto the Norby series by Issac Asimov.


Upon further reflection of this series. I often ponder the twists and turns of my own life. Large or small, every decision has made a profound influence on my life. Less than desirable outcomes have created loose threads on my journey. At times, I wish I could tug on those threads to remove them. I now realize, however, that pulling those threads would unravel the tapestry of my life. And we cannot have that, now can we? It is all apart of the grand adventure!

For those interested, these books can still be found at many bookstores. I recently discovered a lot of these at my local Barnes & Noble. Of course, you can also find them online for pennies on the dollar. Much to my jubilation, I discovered that, a few years ago, another publishing copy bought the rights to this series and started to release new stories. Better still, digital copies of these books are slated to be released for the iPhone and iPad. For those interested in this series, here are a few starting points.

1. The Official Website of Choose Your Own Adventure
2. Choose Your Own Adventure books on your iPad!