✦Mélanie Watt · Reading companion
Scaredy Squirrel
Bring your copy and explore predictions, helpful plans, and small steps toward something new.
A book to read together
Scaredy Squirrel
Original prompts to use with your copy.
Scaredy Squirrel is written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt. Read a family or library copy, then use these original Curiosi prompts to explore expectations, plans, and new experiences. Children can talk about the character or invent an example; they do not need to share a personal worry.
Separate a guess from a fact
Before reading, look at the cover and invite a prediction about the character. Ask which visible detail inspired the guess. Explain that a prediction is an idea to check, while an observation describes something you can see. Keep both on a simple two-part drawing as you begin your copy.
Explore how the page is organised
Pause at a page where the layout catches the child’s attention. Ask how the arrangement helps explain the character’s thinking. Notice a label, picture, list, or other feature in your edition. Which detail tells us something directly, and which leaves us to infer? Let the child choose what to discuss.
Compare an expectation with an outcome
After reading, revisit one prediction. What matched, and what changed? Ask what the character learned from an experience, using a detail from your copy. Discuss how a useful plan can include questions, help, and a chance to pause. Trying something new need not mean ignoring real limits or making the biggest possible leap.
Draw a small-step plan
Invent a new tabletop task, such as trying an unfamiliar puzzle. Draw three stepping stones on paper: something to ask, a small first try, and a way to review it. Add a person who could help. Act out the plan without keeping score. Revise a stone if you discover a more comfortable or useful approach.
Your turn to read
Keep the conversation going
There is no single right answer. Invite young readers to notice, wonder and imagine.
Which observation supported your first prediction?
How did the page layout explain an idea?
What could make a first step manageable?
Make something: Make two picture boxes for an imaginary challenge: what I expect and what I notice. Add a question you could ask before choosing the next step.
