The Strawberry Squirrel

The Strawberry Squirrel (2026), written by Dennis D. King, is a charming children's story about Scruffy and Fluffy, two young, spunky squirrels living in a big forest oak tree. Bored of their usual diet of nuts, they venture out one fall morning to explore Mister and Misses Farmer Brown's nearby crop fields in search of sweeter treats. Plot Highlights The Cornfield Trick: The duo successfully harvests sweetcorn from tall stalks, but a clever, midnight-black Raven tricks them into abandoning their heavy prize, promising them bigger, sweeter treats at a distant wild apple tree. The Fox's Bargain: Upon arriving at the apple tree, they discover the fruit on the ground is sour. Before they can harvest the fresh red ones from the branches, they are confronted by Fillmore the Fox. He demands their only plucked apple as a toll, directing them instead to a nearby strawberry patch. Strawberry Discoveries & Danger: At the patch, Fluffy falls in love with the delicious red berries, while Scruffy mistakenly tries a sour green one. As dusk falls, a hungry hawk swoops down to attack the exposed squirrels. Conclusion Thanks to a loud, arrogant screech from the hawk, Scruffy and Fluffy narrowly escape into a drainage pipe. Safe but exhausted, they return to their woodland home. While a defeated Scruffy vows to never leave the safety of their tree or hunt unfamiliar food again, the adventurous Fluffy falls asleep dreaming of returning to the strawberry patch and securing a glistening red apple the very next day.