LOOK BOTH WAYS

If there is one thing every squirrel ought to have etched into its DNA by now, it’s the wisdom of looking both ways. But Filbert is a high-octane young squirrel with his eye on the prize of the moment, be it a goal in soccer or going to Grandma’s house for some acorns for dinner. This means he doesn’t stop to consider the cat down the street or all those cars in the road—doesn’t stop to “look . . . both . . . ways.” By sheer luck, he makes it past the cat, the bikes and the cars enroute to Grandma’s, but things go differently on the way back, as he barely evades the cat—“Thump! On a rooftop. / Squish! through a hole. / Wiggle-jiggle jump! / down a telephone pole”—before running afoul of traffic. With honking, screeching cars surrounding him, Filbert gets an object lesson in safety made palatable by Weidner’s soft-toned pen, ink and watercolor art that often emphasizes Filbert’s tiny size in the great big world. (Picture book. 3-7)