Bird and Squirrel
Unexpectedly endearing slapstick
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The Series: Bird and Squirrel
The Author and Illustrator: James Burks
Length/Picture Density: 120-150pgs., graphic novel form, meaning more pictures than words
The secret of so many bad sitcoms and other media that seems to be more popular than it could possibly deserve is that they keep you around long enough for the characters to become endearing and for you to start chuckling at the running gags that make up too much of their personalities.
Which is why I’m not sure what to tell you about the Bird and Squirrel graphic novel series.
When we started reading them, Leo was cackling at every page, and I was mostly rolling my eyes. Now I legitimately like them. I’ll get to why in a minute, first let’s back up.
Bird and Squirrel are a classic odd couple. Bird is social, care-free, obliviously brave, positive and friendly in all situations. Squirrel is anxious, careful, and mostly wants to stay at home. They start out as strangers, but become best friends over a series of death-defying adventures in which they are alternately lucky and disaster-prone.
The first four books tell a story in which they get pulled away from their forest home while dealing with a ferocious predator (book 1), then have an unrelated penguin adventure in the antarctic because Bird got lost flying them around (book 2), rescue a bear cub in the woods on their way back (book 3) and then return home but have to deal with a new danger there (book 3).
The stories get some mileage from the odd-couple dynamic, but there’s more juice (mixed metaphor!) in their evolving relationship. As often happens with this exact dynamic, the carefree one drives much of the story action, but the character journey happens more with the anxious one as they gradually come out of their shell.
After following these two through all of that and see them come to appreciate each other more and more, I couldn’t help but like them. I even found the ending of the fourth to be a little bit of a tear-jerker.
So, that’s all pretty positive. Why was I not into these for a while? It’s basically a long-form slapstick comic book. A lot of the jokes are about Bird being a buffoon or Squirrel being scared. The humor isn’t offensive, but it’s kind of cheap. It’s also mostly visual, which, alright maybe this is worth a little side discussion.
This newsletter has focused almost entirely on books that have pictures, but the pictures aren’t telling the story. I’ve avoided reviewing and to a lesser extent avoided reading the more comic-book style books because part of me feels like they aren’t as nutritious reading-wise. And yet, I loved stuff like this growing up (I read the Tintin books many times), and I’ve defended adult graphic novels like Sandman and Watchmen as literature that’s just as worthy as the type without the pictures. Also, these books and many like them are pure pleasure for Leo, and I feel that’s as valuable as anything else.
I suppose it’s just the ease of intake that makes some part of me downgrade this medium, and because they’re not written for adults, there’s less for me to sink my teeth into. Then again, one of the more intense series we’ve read was in graphic novel form (Hilda — review coming eventually), so the issue isn’t really the medium. Maybe it’s the slapstick humor that the medium lends itself to.
I haven’t fully articulated all of my thoughts on this, even to myself, but I’ve got a few more in the review queue, so maybe I’ll figure it out eventually. Would love your thoughts on this.
A final thought here, I think Leo will really take to books like this as he gets more comfortable with reading. They’re funny and easy to follow, and I’m glad they’re out there for him once he’s ready for them. And hey, at this point, I’m glad to have read them myself.