Squirrel and the Moon by Eleonore Schmid

by Eleonore Schmid

In an exploration of the cycles of the moon and the cycles of growth in the natural world, Schmid presents a story about a squirrel name Tifi who is dazzled by the beauty of the full moon. When it wanes, she is sure it must be hungry so she buries her secret store of hazelnuts for the moon to help make grow. Though Tifi goes hungry herself, her devoted sacrifice will be greatly rewarded. Full color.

Hardcover

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

Born in 1939 in Lucerne, Eleonore Schmid later attended the School of Applied Arts in Lucerne and worked for three years in Zurich as a graphic designer. She also designed books and illustrated children’s magazines, games, and stamps. After traveling through Europe, she moved to Paris and later to New York for three years. There she created the first of a series of picture books. After a long stay in Mexico, she returned to Switzerland and lived in Zurich until her death in 2001.

Reviews

[Jackie Ostrowicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet story, nicely illustrated, about the life of a squirrel from birth to giving birth, and how she forages for and hides food. There is an element of fantasticalness to the story, as the squirrel can talk and feel, and believes the moon is waxing and waning because it is hungry, like her. The themes help create empathy and a better understanding of the habits of animals.

The text is quite long on each page---not quite a chapter book but a little more involved than the usual picture book.

[Edward Creter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated book that has a squirrel who worries over the moon not returning at night and finds that all things come back with time and patience. This is also the last book in my Q-105 mini-project for this year and it has been more of a blessing than you guys can know, and I will do it again next year with 105 more titles with a Q in them. Meantime, I hope you and yours have a good Christmas and enjoy this book.