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| Squirrel and John Muir | 
| Author: Emily Arnold Mccully
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $3.98
You Save: $12.02 (75%)
New (25) from $3.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 421312
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 40
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 11.6 x 8.5 x 0.4
ISBN: 0374336970
EAN: 9780374336974
ASIN: 0374336970
Publication Date: September 10, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! May have a publisher remainder mark. 1st. 2004 Hardcover.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
An outstanding book for young naturalists
Floy Hutchings, also known as Squirrel, is the daughter of the man who opened the first hotel in the Yosemite Valley in the 1860s. She has to fend for herself much of the time and is considered wild by her family and her father's guests. When the future naturalist John Muir is hired as a carpenter, Floy becomes his inquisitive shadow as he builds himself a cabin over a stream, talks to flowers, and listens to snow. Floy, determined never to grow up because she'd have to be a lady, and Muir, searching nature for a way to live free of society's expectations, are primed to find common ground.
In this story set against a backdrop of watercolor paintings that vividly capture the beauty of Yosemite, Floy learns to see the world through John Muir's eyes.
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| Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable January 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is about John Muir--an early naturalist in Yosemite Valley who founded the Sierra Club--and his young daughter called "Squirrel" This beautiful picture book is designed for early elementary. I would put together information about Muir--e.g., http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/ --along with photos of Yosemite Valley so the students could imagine what it would be like to want to protect the land. This book would make a good historical bridge to science and environmental studies.
Wonderful Illustrated book for kids August 21, 2006
This book is a nice illustration of Yosemite Park.
It may serve as a good beginning for a little kid's spiritual path.
An Award Winning Book March 19, 2005
While the story alone is enough to engage even the most rambunctious children aged 4-8 and lead them to study nature, author-illustrator Emily Arnold McCully's natural watercolor artwork makes the words on the page come alive and awakens a yearning to experience nature too. There is more of the main character, a girl nicknamed "Squirrel," in most of us than we would like to admit! The book's images show us a spritely dynamo of a girl who goes from 'rebellious' to 'inquisitive' as her mentor, John Muir, a gentle giant of a man, teaches her many object lessons and observational skills in the great outdoors. This book won the 2005 Giverny Award, given annually for the best children's science picture book. McCully's artwork gives us a sense of moments of self-discovery in nature, frozen in time. In the story, Muir honed her powers of observation by his own example. He had not lost his childlike sense of wonder, even though, when he arrived at her father's hotel, SHE almost had. The sheer joy of studying nature with Muir gradually replaced her delight in causing trouble. Near the end of the story, Floy (Squirrel) even became a nature guide for the tourists who visited the Yosemite Valley. The torch had been passed to another generation.
 A SPLENDID STORY THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN TRUE September 12, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When author/artist Emily Arnold McCully set her sights on famed naturalist John Muir and a little girl whom he met in Yosemite in 1868 the result was a splendid story which isn't totally true - but, it could have been.
At that time Muir was 30-years-old. He'd been to college, worked at several jobs, and felt a strong call to commune with nature and discover its laws. When he arrived in Yosemite hoping to prove his theory of glacial formation, he was hired by James Hutchings, an English journalist bent on attracting tourism to the area. Hutchings was also bent on one other task - taming his spirited daughter, Floy. Here was a girl who never wanted to grow up because then she'd have to be a lady. A thought quite repellant to the rebellious young miss whose nickname was Squirrel. She happily spent hours "talking to the family's pet parrot, balancing on a plank by the woodpile, making mud pies, and capturing frogs."
As the story develops Muir and Squirrel soon become the best of friends as he shows her how to see through his eyes the incredible surroundings in which she lives.
It is not known whether or not Floy grew up to be a lady, but it is known that John Muir became famous and the world has benefitted by what he learned.
- Gail Cooke
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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