RICKY AND THE SQUIRREL

This Dutch import introduces the ideas of death and the afterlife in a simple, low-key way. A very young-looking bunny in overalls and with one flop ear in van Genechten’s outdoorsy, thickly brushed and comfortably outlined scenes, Ricky comes upon a squirrel on the ground one day and, after consultation with his friend Annie, carries it home to show his mother. She tells him right out that the squirrel is dead, then seeing his incomprehension explains that it happens to very old squirrels, but they go on to Squirrel Paradise—“the same place where they were before they were born.” With help from his dad, Ricky buries the squirrel with ceremony out in the forest, and then, for a mood-lifting finale, he spots a living squirrel on the way home. Other titles on the topic are not lacking, but this nicely matter-of-fact one offers an open discussion without forcing an obvious therapeutic agenda on its audience. (Picture book. 4-6)