
Price: £7.99
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
Genre:
Age Range: 8-10 Junior/Middle
Length: 272pp
Buy the Book
Squirrel and Duck: Mission Improbable
This chaotic comedy introduces a new and unlikely double act. Squirrel and Duck have very little in common. Duck is mild-mannered, generous and jolly. Conversely, Squirrel is mean-spirited and cranky… they are certainly unlikely housemates! The pair live in a hollow, fibreglass tree in an abandoned theme park, with Duck’s entirely unspecial pet cactus, Mr Spikes. Here they hide away from the world – eating takeaway pizza and looking after Mr Spikes – fearful of being discovered by human beings as the world’s only talking animals.
Squirrel and Duck’s domestic bliss is turned upside down when they learn that the theme park is to be flattened to make way for new flats. They are going to have to find somewhere else to live.
Opportunity presents itself when they overhear two art thieves discussing where they have hidden the world’s most valuable painting. They resolve to find the painting, with Duck hoping to return it to its rightful owner, and Squirrel (secretly) hoping to score enough money for a perfect new home!
Above all else, Squirrel and Duck is a story about friendship, but not in an overly emotional or sentimental way. The heroes’ friendship is put under strain by their mixed motivations for finding the painting, and also by their differing feelings towards Mr Spikes the cactus. There is depth to the two characters, who clearly have an eventful shared history. Their ability to talk is presented as a miraculous skill held by no other animals and Percival implies that it has got them into hot water in the past. It is also a source of comedy, especially when Squirrel meets some genuine squirrels but is unable to enlist their help in finding a new home because his attempts at speaking their language causes such great offence!
Percival’s fun and characterful sketches feature on most pages, adding energy to the narrative and helping to show the stark contrast between the animal heroes and the human ‘baddies’ with their nefarious intentions.
There is enough jeopardy, action and pace in the story to engage young readers throughout, and there are several laugh-out-loud moments, usually regarding the stupidity of one of the ‘baddies’ or the bizarre relationship between Duck and his spikey ‘pet’. Whether the partnership of Squirrel and Duck has quite enough originality or comedy to sustain further adventures in the future is debatable, but this enjoyable introduction makes Squirrel and Duck’s success seem ‘Mission Probable’.