Possum and the Summer Storm

When Possum and his three children lose their brush pile home during a storm, they go searching for a new one. Carrying the babies on his back, Possum—who demonstrates emotions of fear, surprise, and uncertainty through his widening eyes—meets other woodland animals throughout the flooded landscape, and each offers to help. A chipmunk digs them a home, but the entrance is too small for Possum. Next, Muskrat “showed the possums how to build a dome of reeds and mud over the burrow that the chipmunk had helped them dig.” Even a wasp helps out by making “a comb of chewed wood and saliva,” and a bird builds them a hammock-style nest. The juxtaposition of architectural elements might sound strange, but the result is elegant and lovely. The variety of friendly animals more than willing to lend assistance calls to mind how human communities come together following a natural disaster. Ages 4–7. (May)