Take a Flying Leap

This past week, Wellsboro’s World Heritage exchange student, Eileen Mueller, returned home to Germany. I, as her “area representative,” called my supervisor to finish up the paperwork that completes the official part of a wonderful experience which has changed the lives of all the friends Eileen made, not the least of which were the members of her host family. In talking to my World Heritage supervisor, Georgene, I mentioned in passing this column that I write. When Georgene visited us in Wellsboro this past October, she purchased Scaredy Squirrel, the stuffed animal and his first book. In the conversation this past week, Georgene wanted to know if I had reviewed Scaredy Squirrel yet for the paper.

My first encounter with “Scaredy Squirrel” was actually in his plush puppet form, representing the character from the popular children’s book by Melanie Watt. When I first saw Scaredy Squirrel’s toothsome smile, I thought he was a little … well, in a word, scary … especially for a children’s toy. With his big, strange grin, I thought he had the look of one of those Jack-in-the-Box clowns, which made me distrust him a little. Any misgivings I felt melted away in relief and laughter with just one reading of this deceptively simple picture book.

Scaredy Squirrel has an exact routine, with his days scheduled down to the minute, to keep everything in his life under control, so that he never has to deal with the unknown. He lives in the same tree, eats the same nuts, and naps at the same time every day. Occasionally, Scaredy Squirrel weighs the pros and cons of trying something new and exploring outside of his tree, but decides that he has a nice view, good food, a pleasant home right where he is. Although sometimes he is a little bored …. but, no! His routine keeps him calm, and safe from all the dangers that might be out there, like sharks or germs or green Martians or poison ivy. Just in case, he asks readers to wash their hands with antiseptic soap before touching his book, and he has an emergency kit all prepared.

It is ultimately his attachment to this emergency kit which accidentally frees him, forcing him into the unknown: one day, a “killer bee” buzzes too close to the tree, and Scaredy flinches, knocking the emergency kit off the limb. He leaps for it, and makes a startling and wonderful discovery about himself as he glides through the air. Melanie Watt, both gently humorous writer and clever graphic artist, uses a long pull-out page to show readers what Scaredy is pleased to learn – that he is, in fact, a flying squirrel. Though his first glide out of the tree ends with his crashing into a bush, he learns that it didn’t kill him, that it was actually kind of fun, and that there didn’t seem to be any aliens or tarantulas lurking about.

Scaredy Squirrel does, in fact, go back to his routine, but he adds to it from the joy of his new discoveries. It is no longer the same old tree, same old view, and he is not the same old squirrel. He still naps, looks at his view, searches for and eats nuts, but he no longer seems to care if he falls in the occasional bush or if we have clean hands.

I hope it’s obvious why a woman who works with exchange students and host families immediately loved this book. A leap into the unknown, no matter how confident a person we are, no matter how much we crave or detest adventure and change, is still a scary thing. Fear of the unknown, fear of change – these are natural feelings, and indeed, often keep us safe, and certainly have kept us alive as a species. Nevertheless, we dare, we try and we learn and grow from these new experiences. Melanie Watt is a prolific children’s writer and illustrator, but with Scaredy Squirrel, she has outdone herself.

Leap into the unknown or safe at home? When have you soared magnificiently or crashed into the bushes? Or both? Email us your stories, your fears, your dreams at from_my_shelf@yahoo.com. Check out Hobo’s past adventures at his blog: http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com or read his children’s book about a little barn cat who took a chance by leaving the farm.