
There are wonderful illustrations thrown in-always a treat, especially when the books tend toward the thicker end like this one. Young readers who like a little animal adventure in a more real world setting will enjoy the mix. In other words, it's not a fluffy tale but not overly rough either. Again, he meets a bit of brutality, but it's this which molds him into the form to get sucked up into the world of rats. But there's no time to consider that long as Pheonix finds himself in a deadly and life-changing situation. There is a death pretty early on, and while handled gently, the atmosphere around it struck me odd. While the first chapters ground a warm, caring squirrel life, as jealousy comes and accidents happen, things take a not so nice turn.

Pheonix is in for the adventure of a lifetime, and one that no squirrel could ever see coming. Not only does he need to learn to fit in and form new friendships, but soon learns it's time to step beyond his squirrel comfort zone and fight to save their home. When Pheonix is snatched away from his park, he's sure his life is going to end as a meal to a nest of hungry birds, but then he's dropped.in a painful manner.and ends up in unexpected company. He's the top of his siblings, but still, is jealous of another squirrels climbing skills. Pheonix is a pretty lucky squirrel.and sometimes not so lucky. With scampering adventure, this tale hits the theme of friendship and community, while proving that some things are worth fighting for. But when they learn of plans to demolish the piers, Phoenix is swept up in a truly electrifying scheme to stop the humans from destroying his new friends’ home. Taken in by siblings Lucy and Beckett, Phoenix is welcomed into a rat pack living in abandoned piers on the Hudson. Fortunately for Phoenix, it’s not a pack of sewer rats that find him (they’re a notoriously surly bunch), but rather wharf rats.

Now stripped of his gorgeous golden-brown coat, Phoenix looks like nothing more than a common sewer rat. Unluckily, he drops Phoenix on a freshly-tarred street in downtown Manhattan. Luckily, the hawk doesn’t have the best grip.


Phoenix is a pretty big deal in his neck of the woods: The biggest in his litter with the most lustrous fur and by far the bushiest tail, he’s one of the most sought-after squirrels in New Jersey-which makes his kidnapping by hawk even more dramatic. But what should have been a death sentence becomes the beginning of a sweeping big-city adventure in this captivating novel by National Book Award–nominated author Tor Seidler. When a hawk snatches up an adventurous squirrel named Phoenix, he’s ready to kiss his tail goodbye.
