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The Squirrel Who Saved Practically Everybody
A children's story by John Swartzwelder, the writer of The Time Machine Did It and 59 episodes of The Simpsons.
59 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2019
14 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
About the author
John Swartzwelder
18 books313 followersJohn Joseph Swartzwelder Jr. is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons. Born in Seattle, Washington, Swartzwelder began his career working in advertising. He was later hired to work on comedy series Saturday Night Live in the mid-1980s as a writer. He later contributed to fellow writer George Meyer's short-lived Army Man magazine, which led him to join the original writing team of The Simpsons, beginning in 1989.
He worked on The Simpsons as a writer and producer until 2003, and later contributed to The Simpsons Movie. He wrote the largest number of Simpsons episodes (59 full episodes, with contributions to several others) by a large margin. After his retirement from the show, he began a career as a writer of self-published absurdist novels. He has written more than a dozen novels, the most recent of which, The Spy with No Pants, was published in December 2020.
Swartzwelder is revered among comedy fans and his colleagues. He is known for his reclusiveness, and gave his first-ever interview in 2021, in The New Yorker. Per Mike Sacks, "Swartzwelder’s specialty on The Simpsons was conjuring dark characters from a strange, old America: banjo-playing hobos, cigarette-smoking ventriloquist dummies, nineteenth-century baseball players, rat-tailed carnival children, and pantsless, singing old-timers."
He worked on The Simpsons as a writer and producer until 2003, and later contributed to The Simpsons Movie. He wrote the largest number of Simpsons episodes (59 full episodes, with contributions to several others) by a large margin. After his retirement from the show, he began a career as a writer of self-published absurdist novels. He has written more than a dozen novels, the most recent of which, The Spy with No Pants, was published in December 2020.
Swartzwelder is revered among comedy fans and his colleagues. He is known for his reclusiveness, and gave his first-ever interview in 2021, in The New Yorker. Per Mike Sacks, "Swartzwelder’s specialty on The Simpsons was conjuring dark characters from a strange, old America: banjo-playing hobos, cigarette-smoking ventriloquist dummies, nineteenth-century baseball players, rat-tailed carnival children, and pantsless, singing old-timers."
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 1, 2022
The squirrel really did save practically everybody, minus a few people he hit with a car.
Also somehow the finish date went straight from Kindle to Goodreads and that makes me uncomfortable. It’s like finding out someone has been keeping an accurate calendar of when you take a dump. It’s not useful info or like someone can steal my identity this way. It’s just creepy.
That’s should be technology’s new directive: Don’t be creepy.
I don’t think we can expect tech to not be evil or greedy or whatever, but not being a creep about it seems achievable.
I don’t even mind when I’m on a site and see a sidebar ad for something I looked at on Amazon. Whatever, that’s convenient. Or what the computer thinks is convenient, sort of like how the cat thinks he’s helping out by brining mice of various percentages of deadness into the house. It’s not creepy when the cat does it. It’s adorable because he thinks he’s helping.
It’s cute when the computer does it too because it’s like “Don’t you want to buy this Alfa Romeo t-shirt?” And I’m like, No, I was looking up how much Alfa Romeos cost to see how stupid my neighbor is and what percentage of his mortgage could’ve been paid off if he’d bought a used Camry (50% BTW). But the computer is too dumb to know the difference.
But telling everyone that I finished a book in bed this morning, because I usually wake up before my girlfriend and read, and she’s got earplugs in because I snore, so this morning time is a very good window for loud, hilarious farts. I’m a catch.
It feels a little like the kindle was creeping on me while I was reading in bed. And yes, farting and reading about a squirrel who hit people (just a couple, probably not even wealthy ones) with a car. But still, doing that in my own home, while disgusting, is not creepy.
And I never said tech should avoid being disgusting. I welcome it.
Also somehow the finish date went straight from Kindle to Goodreads and that makes me uncomfortable. It’s like finding out someone has been keeping an accurate calendar of when you take a dump. It’s not useful info or like someone can steal my identity this way. It’s just creepy.
That’s should be technology’s new directive: Don’t be creepy.
I don’t think we can expect tech to not be evil or greedy or whatever, but not being a creep about it seems achievable.
I don’t even mind when I’m on a site and see a sidebar ad for something I looked at on Amazon. Whatever, that’s convenient. Or what the computer thinks is convenient, sort of like how the cat thinks he’s helping out by brining mice of various percentages of deadness into the house. It’s not creepy when the cat does it. It’s adorable because he thinks he’s helping.
It’s cute when the computer does it too because it’s like “Don’t you want to buy this Alfa Romeo t-shirt?” And I’m like, No, I was looking up how much Alfa Romeos cost to see how stupid my neighbor is and what percentage of his mortgage could’ve been paid off if he’d bought a used Camry (50% BTW). But the computer is too dumb to know the difference.
But telling everyone that I finished a book in bed this morning, because I usually wake up before my girlfriend and read, and she’s got earplugs in because I snore, so this morning time is a very good window for loud, hilarious farts. I’m a catch.
It feels a little like the kindle was creeping on me while I was reading in bed. And yes, farting and reading about a squirrel who hit people (just a couple, probably not even wealthy ones) with a car. But still, doing that in my own home, while disgusting, is not creepy.
And I never said tech should avoid being disgusting. I welcome it.
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December 11, 2020Ive read all of John’s books. This one is about half as long as the others. Its also written using a narrator rather than the Frank Burly series which is written in the first person. The New York Times gives this book a review, probably. But who cares about what those eggheads say. Not I said the fly.
True to the Children’s book genre, the language is a bit cleaner than his other books. Its still a hilarious read. There were plenty of times I was laughing out loud. I mean that literally. LOL
The story reads kind of like Animal Farm. Its about animals who get forcibly removed from their home in the woods and have to relocate to the city. Along the way they’re foiled by corrupt bureaucrats, have trouble finding jobs, and get into turf wars with Endangered Species. In short, a bunch of stuff happens.
Its another great piece of satire from one chapter to the next. You can read it to your kids or you can enjoying reading it to yourself as you attempt to deal with adult life while remaining stuck in perpetual childlike adolescence. I know I do.
Should’ve had an elephant named Stampy, Cod Sarnit.
True to the Children’s book genre, the language is a bit cleaner than his other books. Its still a hilarious read. There were plenty of times I was laughing out loud. I mean that literally. LOL
The story reads kind of like Animal Farm. Its about animals who get forcibly removed from their home in the woods and have to relocate to the city. Along the way they’re foiled by corrupt bureaucrats, have trouble finding jobs, and get into turf wars with Endangered Species. In short, a bunch of stuff happens.
Its another great piece of satire from one chapter to the next. You can read it to your kids or you can enjoying reading it to yourself as you attempt to deal with adult life while remaining stuck in perpetual childlike adolescence. I know I do.
Should’ve had an elephant named Stampy, Cod Sarnit.
May 5, 2021
The title of this book alone made me laugh so hard that I bought it on the spot, then read excerpts to my husband, who laughed so hard he insisted on reading it along with me. And apparently this isn't even one of Mr. Swartzwelder’s best books?! Anyhow, if you want a little treat for your brain, I recommend it. It's George Saunders meets Denis Johnson meets Animal Farm meets Frog and Toad. I'm now going to see what’s all the fuss about this Frank Burley character.
April 8, 2020
Another wonderful tale sans Burly by Swartzwelder.
February 22, 2023
5 stars! But it should at least have 5 and a 1/2.
January 21, 2024
I love zipping through a great little Swartzwelder like this as a palate cleanser between heavier books.
January 22, 2020
I don't know if this is Swartzwelder's first 'children's' book, but it was just as fun as his Frank Burly series... if not more so than Frank's current adventures. I'm not sure which age group John was aiming for; not too young given the content and subtle humor, but the mystery can be entertaining for the young and old.
If you enjoy the Swartzwelder writing style then I'd highly recommend picking this up!
If you enjoy the Swartzwelder writing style then I'd highly recommend picking this up!
December 14, 2019
This is about as funny as Double Wonderful. That's not a criticism. It's just to say that this isn't as funny as the Frank Burly stories (such as The Monster That Wouldn't Sink:). Nonetheless, there's a good gag on nearly every page.
It also follows in a long tradition of using animals to represent various types of people. I can't recall what this tradition is called, but there is one and this book is part of it.
The final page includes the phrase 'The heck with it' where the better line would've been 'the hell with it'. This raises the question nof whether the book has been edited, or censored, to avoid offending readers in the Bible Belt. Swear words are common in the Frank Burly stories, so what happened here? But maybe 'heck' is mor in line with what the character would say.
It also follows in a long tradition of using animals to represent various types of people. I can't recall what this tradition is called, but there is one and this book is part of it.
The final page includes the phrase 'The heck with it' where the better line would've been 'the hell with it'. This raises the question nof whether the book has been edited, or censored, to avoid offending readers in the Bible Belt. Swear words are common in the Frank Burly stories, so what happened here? But maybe 'heck' is mor in line with what the character would say.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews