• Age: 4 to 8
• Grade: p to 3

Scaredy Squirrel is exactly the character kids need today — a little bit anxious, a lot adorable and totally lovable. Join Scaredy on a hilarious adventure as he learns to brave the doctor for a check-up!

Scaredy Squirrel keeps himself in peak physical condition. He exercises, eats a balanced diet, sings opera (to keep his lungs in shape, of course) and brushes his teeth. You might think it's to stay fit, but no — he'd rather keep a healthy distance from the doctor's office! After all, who'd want to expose themselves to the the aches and pains of pricking, poking and squeezing? It's a prescription for disaster!

Scaredy can't avoid the doctor forever though, and when he realizes that he needs to make a quick visit to Dr. Vet to get his health certificate, he does whatever it takes to keep safe while he waits at the clinic . . . including covering himself in bubble wrap. Things don't go according to plan, and Scaredy ends up discovering that his doctor’s visit leaves him feeling better than ever!

La jeune auteure-illustratrice Mélanie Watt, née à Trois-Rivières, a remporté pour son travail de prestigieuses récompenses, dont le Prix Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz, le Prix Blue Spruce et le Prix Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon, tous les trois pour Frisson l'écureuil.

It was in a design class taught by Michèle Lemieux at the University of Quebec in Montreal that author and illustrator Mélanie Watt created her first picture book, Leon the Chameleon, which was later published by Kids Can Press. Watt went on to create several more books, including the Learning with Animals collection and Augustine, which was named an ALA Notable Children's Book. Watt has also illustrated Where Does a Tiger-Heron Spend the Night? and Bearcub and Mama, which won the 2006 IRA Teachers” Choices Project.

Mélanie's best known book, Scaredy Squirrel, has won many awards, including the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children”s Book Award for Children”s Picture Book and the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator”s Award. The release of Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend was met with enthusiastic reviews and incredible sales, confirming the arrival of kid lit's newest superstar. Chester, Chester's Back! and Chester's Masterpiece are about a megalomaniac cat who is every bit the antithesis to Scaredy. Chester has already become a bestseller, and shows the breadth and creativity of Mélanie Watt.

Scaredy returns to take a few more tentative steps out of his comfort zone in Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach and Scaredy Squirrel at Night. Mélanie has often noted how the Scaredy Squirrel books helped her work out her own insecurities and fears, as the success of these titles has required her to venture out into the unknown, and like Scaredy she has found the experience truly uplifting.

Mélanie currently resides near Montreal, Quebec.

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