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LITERATURE Although there are many fine books about squirrels that are sadly out of print, The Scholarly Squirrel regretably only features books that are still available for purchase. Books for Adults  Nicholas Kilmer's Man with a Squirrel is an acclaimed mystery novel set in the Boston art world. The book relates the suspenseful events that unfold after protagonist Fred Taylor purchases a painting of a common gray squirrel on a chain, which he discovers has been cut from a larger canvas. Believing it to be the work of an important eighteenth-century American master, Taylor sets out to find the remainder of the painting and its origins.
Other titles (fiction and non-fiction) for adults include:
Books for Children For decades, squirrels have found a welcome home in children's literature. First published in 1903, Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin relates the misadventures of an impertinent little red squirrel who ends up with only half a tail left after mocking a cranky old owl. Nutkin was inspired by Potter's pet squirrel by the same name who was so wild that Potter had to bring it back to the pet shop! Potter later authored The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes, a children's story about a pair of grey squirrels.
John Patrick Rock's Earl and Pearl, the Christmas Squirrels were inspired by two Pennsylvania gray squirrels that outwitted every effort by Rock to drive them away from his backyard bird feeders. In 1997, Rock's young daughter asked an innocent child's question: "Why do the birds deserve food, while the squirrels do not?" The child's insight motivated the family to set up squirrel feeders along with the bird feeders in their yard and inspired Rock to write the book.
There are numerous other children's books featuring squirrels as protagonists, including:
Reference Books Writer Bill Adler's popular Outwitting Squirrels has been named by the Wall Street Journal as "a masterpiece of squirrel stratagems." Adler's book offers a wealth of suggestions for bird lovers and gardeners to protect their feeders and lawns from clever squirrels along with witty prose on his love-hate relationship with squirrels. The book has received such accolades that a second edition called Outwitting Squirrels: 101 Cunning Stratagems to Reduce Dramatically the Egregious Misappropriation of Seed from Your Birdfeeder by Squirrels was published in 1996. Adler also launched his own Outwitting Squirrels Website.
Other reference books about squirrels for both adults and children include:
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