What You Do Is Easy, What I Do Is Hard

From Publishers Weekly Wolf (Daddy, Could I Have an Elephant?) has a rare knack for gauging a young audience's taste for irony and understated humor, and here he caters to it with aplomb. A supercilious squirrel brags that what he does-gathering nuts-is hard, while the labors of his forest comrades-the bee, the robin, the spider and the ant-are easy. Dared to prove his boast, he of course fails miserably ("I ran into problems," he sheepishly tells the group. " 'Problems?' said the bee. 'Like what?' 'Pollen problems,' said the squirrel.' "). The story ends with a reconciliatory picnic of honey and nuts, and the agreement that everyone's work is challenging. Debut illustrator Dewdney's watercolor, gouache and pencil pictures favor the delicate and sweet, with most of the humor residing in the overweening squirrel's facial expressions. She gentles rather than intensifies the satirical elements of the text. Ages 4-up. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 2-A squirrel, dozing in a tree, laughs at the exertions of a bee, an ant, a robin, and a spider as they return from a full day at their respective "jobs." Convinced that the tasks he performs are the hardest of all, the boastful squirrel sets out to prove that he can easily do the work of the other creatures. He soon discovers that gathering pollen and crumbs, digging for earthworms, and spinning a web are more difficult than he imagined. When the new friends reach an agreement-that everyone's job is hard, but uniquely suited to the individual-they celebrate with a snack. The cartoonlike, anthropomorphic depictions of the animals are done in watercolor, gouache paint, and pen, and offer an amusing visual interpretation of the text. Lots of dialogue and a clear moral lesson make this story well suited to reading aloud.