Toby Chipmunk

This was my favorite book when I started school in late 1940's. It is good book for 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade. It has wonderful illustrations and relatively small vocabulary including many common animals like squirrels, robins, bears etc.

The story begins with a grandmother chipmunk who lives by herself in the base of a large old tree and is lonely. A visitor tells her about two homeless chipmunks -- Toby and his sister -- who were spotted a short distance away. So she finds them and invites them to live with her.

Shortly after, they need clothes so Toby goes with a neighbor to a clothing store where there are separate areas for each kind of animal, the picture shows tables with squirrel clothes, robin clothes, chipmunk clothes etc. They get new clothes for Toby.

There is a local school and the grandmother chipmunk believes they should be in school, so they attend the school for young animals.

The rest of the book is various adventures, it ends with the chipmunk family gathering acorns for the long winter.

Really a wonderful story for very young kids just learning to read. There is a distinct emphasis on diversity, quite a bit of attention on the fact that each animal in the forest has its own special needs.

This book has become a collectible, if you find a copy for less than $20 you should probably go for it. Copies for sale online -- in the rare cases when they become available -- often run over $100.