• Age: 3 to 8
• Grade: p to 3

See below for English description.

Frisson ne va jamais camper. Ca le rend trop anxieux. Il prefere installer une nouvelle tele afin d'ecouter une emission de camping en restant assis confortablement. Mais le probleme, c'est qu'il doit la brancher. Atteindre une prise de courant exige beaucoup d'entrainement et une grande maitrise des techniques de survie. Il decide donc de se risquer sur les sentiers quand soudainement son excursion prend un tout autre virage. Va-t-il se perdre dans le bois? Va-t-il devenir un joyeux campeur? Va-t-il survivre pour raconter son histoire autour d'un feu de camp? C'est a lire...

Here's the story, in a nutshell:

Frisson NEVER goes camping. It's way too uncomfortable! In the rugged wilderness, he could be setting up camp near quicksand or The Three Bears!

Instead, he sets up a top-of-the-line TV so he can watch a camping show from the comfort of his own home.

But there's a problem: he needs to plug his TV in! Reaching the nearest electrical outlet requires careful planning and major boot camp training. So he packs up and hits the trail. He has nearly conquered the terrain when suddenly, he is stopped in his tracks! Will he become a happy camper? Will he make it safely out of the woods? Will he survive to tell his story around a roaring campfire?

Original title: Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping

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.

Melanie Watt's profile page