This is a Taco! by Andrew Cangelose

A squirrel who loves tacos?  Well, why not?  This book is silly and I cannot wait to assign it to my students on EPIC!, which is an online reading program that our school uses.  The hard copy version can also be attained through Amazon and other bookstores, but I was thrilled to see that it had been added to the EPIC! digital library.

This squirrel is cute and witty.  The story will make readers laugh a lot as the squirrel realizes that what is written in the text is what happens in the illustrations.  Not only are the illustrations beautiful, but the squirrel's reactions are hilariously depicted even as he tries to change what happens in the story.  Throughout the book, the text gives a bit of general information about squirrels and the little squirrel offers more personal information (via thought bubbles) that students will find entertaining.  Expect tons of giggles!

A fun activity for students would be to have students change the story the way they would like and make their own book or share it (and illustrate it) in their journals. The book is also a fun springboard to kick off a research project about squirrels.  The combined factual and fictional information in the text makes great discussion points about the difference in fiction and non-fiction text.

This is an awesome book from a new author that I expect to hear from often in the future. Look for his new book "This is a Whoopsie!" that is due out in October, 2018.  I plan to buy the hard copy versions of each title for my stacks.