Unconditional kindness is the key in this National Book Award Finalist from the author of The Wainscott Weasel about nontraditional families adoption loveand a little peace and quietMargaret is a mean cranky human toddler from a family of nine She is such a pain that her beleaguered parents chuck her out and shes on her own grousing and grumping until two caring woodchucks Phoebe and Fred take Margaret in as their own But despite their love Margaret continues to wreak havoc with her loud destructive ways ruining the burrow and shrieking nonstop Soon the woodchucks are as beleaguered as Margarets human parents were but because love is more powerful than temper tantrums they are determined to make it work So they enlist a little unconventional help and with the guidance of a snake bats and a skunk their feral little human just might realize theres more to life than being mean.
