The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelmean and Jean Edelman interrupted my work flow. The happy squirrels painted in a landscape of fall colors made it very attractive. It's written in rhyme, a plus.
So, I shifted into automatic pilot by searching for links to put in the reference section of a Picture Book Talk lesson. I listened to several youtubers read the book online. As usual, I listen to an entire video only when the book appears on screen more than the person reading the book does. The technical quality of the video must be very good. Two videos almost met this criteria, so I watched them both all the way to the end. The story was pretty good and the illustrations by Dave Zaboski were lovely, so I spent another couple of hours screening resources about squirrels.
It was only after this process that I opened the book to study the text. Surprise, surprise--this book isn't about squirrels. It's a lesson in financial literacy! Backmatter by Edelman Financial Services includes "The Squirrel Manifesto Guide for Grown-Ups" 1. Tax a little, 2. Spend a little, 3. Save a little, 4. Give a little. Lengthy author bios described a highly successful couple. There's a half page given to the artist and a half page of financial references. This book was published by Simon & Schuster; it was not self-published.
I'm not commenting on the story. I'm also not going to write a Picture Book Talk lesson that could serve as a marketing tool. What I am glad about is that this book made me slow down and pay attention more carefully to my process. Perhaps it got away from me.
