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Still no more than a rough draft despite being buffed up by an editor, Freeman’s son and a second illustrator, Jody Wheeler, this sketchy tale of a Washington, D.C., squirrel rooting through autumn leaves for acorns buried “last summer” should have stayed in the trunk. Crossing a broad avenue and scurrying through an open gate—“which,” as the wooden text has it, “is something not every visitor can do, you may be certain”—Earl the squirrel scampers about the Mall, past other squirrels and a group of children planting trees. In what passes for the climax, a parade turns out to be only a temporary obstacle to his final sortie, as the same children hold up their hands so he can make the leap back across the street and home to a “Well done, my dear,” from his wife. Perky squirrels and several familiar D.C. monuments in the backgrounds give the broadly brushed art some visual interest, but not enough to compensate for the stiff prose and negligible plot. A disappointment, particularly after the likewise posthumous but far more finished Manuelo the Playing Mantis (2004). (Picture book. 5-7)
