Childrens Book Review: The Squirrel Manifesto

Arboreal Society and it's Consequences

My wife came across this book at Goodwill recently, and the title in particular caught my eye. It features an old squirrel on the cover teaching a bunch of younger squirrels, with the title “The Squirrel Manifesto” and the title just sort of jumped out at me.

Arboreal Society & it’s consequences have been wonderful for the Sciuridae family.

The Squirrel Manifesto is a kids book about the benefits of saving your money. It’s written by husband and wife Ric and Jean Edelman, with Ric being one of the top rated independent financial advisors in the nation. The art in the book is solid, it’s beautiful and at least a little clever in a few places. Here are some samples:

The book introduces the various animals of the forest and how good life is when it’s warm. The qualities of various species are highlighted, and it’s a good chance to throw some pretty difficult words at your young reader. It’s a good chance to talk about different kinds of animals and the sort of characterizations humans have assigned to them. I think it took a solid 5-10 minutes to explain the meaning of fastidiousness, discipline, and cleverness to my 5 year old.

The overall theme of the book is that with good financial security, you’ll have less anxiety and be more carefree. That saving for a rainy day lets you splurge from time to time, be prepared for lean times, and most importantly, have a sort of freedom that most people do not have.

One of the marks of a good children’s book is when it provokes questions and explanations. Not too much though, or you’ll never finish the book! But it’s a good vehicle for explaining that some times are harder or easier than others in the context of winter for the squirrels. It also obviously bears a strong message about investing in the future, which can be a difficult concept to impart on a young child. The test of “Do you want one candy now or two later?” comes to mind in teaching kids the concept of delayed gratification.

Many are struggling in these uncertain times, particularly post-COVID as inflation, hiked interest rates, and supply chain issues rock the world. This book is a good way to provide an analogy that explains some of the circumstances a lot of parents might be facing right now. I can’t be the only one who’s had to make some compromises in the standard of living department lately, and these can be difficult things for a child to understand.

The advice at the end here is very practical, and I think they are right to frame things this way. I try to take small opportunities to teach my oldest about delayed gratification and that stuff his parents buy are not free. As a dad who has worked from home for the last 4 years, it helps explain the reason why most of the day Daddy is home, but can’t play until later. The idea of “working” as opposed to “playing” can be pretty hard to drive home sometimes. I try to make sure my son knows that I have to work so we can have a place to live, and that those times when I can’t play because I’m working are what gets him his food and clothes and toys.

This is a very nice book, and my wife once again came in clutch finding something interesting on the Used rack. I hope you enjoyed the review, I know kids books are much shorter. I try to structure these reviews a bit differently, with more of a “show and tell” focus. Thank you!

Buy a copy of The Squirrel Manifesto on Amazon here at this link