Chipmunk's Quest! Chirp! Chipmunk Sings For a Friend by James Swenson

CHIPMUNK LIVED ON A ROCK.

MOST DAYS SHE SAT ON THE ROCK, CHIRPING FROM DAWN UNTIL THE STARS SHONE DOWN.

She chirped happy songs, bittersweet songs, and some days her songs were quite sad. Rock was a solid friend, listening faithfully, but what Chipmunk really wanted was a partner to sing songs with her, so one day she took leave of her friend on a quest to find someone to sing.

She met a pinecone who agreed to join rock in their special place, and Chipmunk joyfully carried Pinecone back to Rock's resting place.

BUT PINECONE'S TALENTS, LIKE ROCK'S, WERE OF THE LISTENING SORT.

But Chirp longed, not for another friend to listen, but a friend to sing with her. The quest was long. She met a nice log who agreed to join Rock and Pinecone, but try her hardest, Chirp could not budge Log. Exhausted by her failure, Chipmunk began to sing a bittersweet song. Raccoon heard the beautiful song and agreed to help move Log to Rock's place, but the two of them were not up to the job. But at least Raccoon joined Chipmunk in a sweet but sad song, one that so moved Moose that he came to see who was singing.

And Moose did it! Once he got Log rolling, he rolled all the way to Rock's spot. And now when Chip sings all her songs...

RACCOON AND MOOSE SING ALONG TOO.

In James Swenson's just published Chirp!: Chipmunk Sings for a Friend (Simon and Schuster, 2021), illustrated affectionately by celebrated artist Scott Magoon, finding a friend doesn't necessarily come easily, but while music is good, music with friends is the best.

As Booklist points out, "Nicely phrased and using repetition effectively, the text is strongly in touch with young children’s impulse to befriend inanimate objects that come alive in their imaginations."

Goin' NUTS! I Want That Nut! by Madeline Valentine

Mouse and Chipmunk are pals who happily play and share together all the time Until when one day they are startled by a loud. . .

KER-PLUNK!

And when they investigate, they see...

. . . a NUT! A BIG, BEAUTIFUL NUT!

Mouse and Chipmunk look at that perfect fat acorn. Both want it. But they try to be generous.

Chipmunk says Mouse should have it. Mouse says Chipmunk should have it. After this goes on for a couple of rounds, Mouse admits that he did see it first, but Chipmunk takes Nut and heads home.

Now the twosome is Chipmunk and Nut. Chipmunk reads story books, the kind with lots of pictures, to Nut. They cloud-watch together. They sleep together. Mouse, on the other hand, is alone and jealous. And he wants that nut! When Chipmunk flaunts his ownership and invites him to tea with him and Nut, Mouse arrives promptly, wearing a festive bowtie. He seems congenial, but he is only waiting for his moment!

"THIS IS LOVELY," SAYS MOUSE.

"OUR PLEASURE," SAYS CHIPMUNK," GESTURING TOWARD NUT, SEATED AT A PLACE AT THE TABLE.

"LOOK! A DINOSAUR!" SHOUTS MOUSE."

Now Mouse has taken possession of The Nut. He plays Tic-Tac-Toe with Nut, dances with Nut, and naps with Nut, but Chipmunk is not done. Disguised in mustache, fur stole and high heels, he claims to be the judge of the World's Most Beautiful Nut Contest and dashes off with Nut.

Mouse has had it with his one-time friend and the two square off at each other, each claiming ownership of Nut, until... they hear a new voice.

"ACTUALLY, IT'S MINE! THANK YOU FOR FINDING MY NUT!"

It's Squirrel who claims full ownership of Nut and has the bulk to enforce possession.

Mouse and Chipmunk agree that the whole thing had gotten totally out of hand, in Madeline Valentine's charming little parable of greed grown all out of proportion, I Want That Nut! (Alfred A. Knopf). Friendship wins out over acorn lust, with the help of a domineering squirrel claiming precedence of possession, in this comical and adorable story for preschool and primary students. As Mark Twain observed in Tom Sawyer about whitewashing a fence: To make something desirable, you must first make it hard to get!

Easy enough for emerging readers, page-plotted perfectly by author Valentine to set off her comic illustrations, and with its varying font size and speech balloons, this is a versatile picture book for reading aloud or as a beginning reader. Says School Library Journal, "Expertly drawn and designed to keep the action moving as tails fly off the page.

Nibbles! Baby Chipmunk (Finger Puppet Book)

Baby Chipmunk's little pink nose crinkles as she sniffs the morning air.  Her little pink-lined ears wiggle. She can't wait to start her day.

She scampers off to find some breakfast, and her little nose takes her straight to some seeds, which she nibbles and then chows down on.

Mama Chipmunk has to find food, too, some to store for the winter, but she stops to give Baby Chipmunk a nuzzle. Baby Chipmunk comes along to explore the floor of the forest with her.

But babies need naps, and soon Baby Chipmunk heads home for hers.

She curls up in her cozy burrow.

And when she wakes she follows her nose again. Scurrying over the fallen leaves and scampering up a tree, she comes upon a cache of nuts! It's time to call Mama back to help stash them in their snug hole.

It's all in a day's fun, in Baby Chipmunk: Finger Puppet Book (Little Finger Puppet Board Books) (Chronicle Books, 2017), and it's all in good fun with this tiny board book with a plushy three-dimensional chipmunk's face for parental fingers to manipulate to tell the story throughout the book. Well-made and sturdy, grownups will have fun making Baby Chipmunk nibble and nuzzle and nap for the very youngest book fans.  Just right, this new little "toy and movable book" joins the Chronicle Books Library of little animal books which are interactive, touchable, and lovable for little ones having their first book experiences.

That's Show Biz! Oh, Nuts! by Tammi Sauer

Cutesy, Blinky, and Bob lived in the zoo.

BUT... nobody paid any attention to them.

Day after day it was the same old thing.

OOH! Look at the tiger! WOW! Watch the elephant! COOL! Cheick out the Koala!

These three stripey-tailed arborial rodents are cheeky, in more ways than one. Cutesy and Blinky are frustrated exhibitionists, and come up with a variety of campaigns to make themselves the center of the zoo-goers' attention, but all of them fizzle. Finally comes the last straw!

BUT, when the sloth (zzzzZZZZZ) got groupies, they needed a plan.

Costumes? suggests Cutesy. Rock show? suggests Blinky. They swim laps faster than the piranhas, and outrace the cheetah. But all their ploys poop out. The zoo visitors keep oohing and ahing over the comatose camels and boring bears.

Then something happens. Bob, obese and mostly catatonic throughout all of his mates' attempt to steal the zoo animals' thunder, has an epiphany.

Then a miracle happened.

BOB had an idea!

"I got it," he says. And he shared the plan.

The three squeeze (not so easy for Bob) into an empty cage and morph into a zoo exhibit and find fame "Zoo Style." Behind bars, they're superstars! Local television anchors do remote spots, flashbulbs pop, and they are expecting a contract with Entertainment Now any day.

But in Tammi Sauer's latest comic romp, Oh, Nuts! (Bloomsbury, 2012), when the three modern-day Chip 'n' Dales get what they want, they don't want it. Like all jaded stars, they miss their privacy And there's another act, waiting in the wings, so to speak, The Pigeons, waiting to take over the spotlight. Dan Krall's silly cartoons are over the top in this wacky tale of menagerie mania found in this goofy giggle-getter.

Sauer's other books include Cowboy Camp
and Chicken Dance.