Porro sit quis incidunt officiis.

3.5 - I love books like this. And so, I really wanted to give this five stars. I wanted to love it and shout about it. Any book that teaches equality has a special place in my heart so when I saw this I was immediately excited. Jeannie Jackson's illustrations lend a lot to the story and they really fit just perfectly. On to Chuck Stone's story. Like I said, I love the premise. I think we need more books like this. Marcus is a great main character and someone even my daughter, who is a 5-year-old white girl, as opposed to a seven-year-old black boy, can relate to. What kid can't relate to running around a park and wanting to get near the squirrels? I love that the story is set in Fairmount Park - reading about a setting close to home is always a perk. Many of those who don't live in the area will have heard of Fairmount Park in some sense also. The story begins with Marcus introducing himself and telling of how his second-grade teacher tells her students to make new friends each year. Marcus is playing in Fairmount Park with some friends when he sees a black squirrel. Actually, he sees many squirrels, but only one black squirrel. Here is where the story, IMO, slides down the ladder a bit, beginning with the sentence, "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if I could talk to him?" My problem with this lies mainly in the fact that up until now the story was very realistic and matter of fact. A boy talking to a squirrel heads into a whole other realm. Not that either realm is necessarily "bad" but I personally don't like the mixing of the two. I prefer my stories (and Julia's by default) to stay along one path for the most part. After running away a few times Marcus gets close the squirrel stops to look at him and then..... asks him what he wants. The squirrel isn't the most friendly little guy ever in the beginning but I suppose that's to be expected. Marcus tells him that he's sorry, he just thinks he's cool because he's the only black squirrel Marcus has ever