Writing For Adult Readers

SQUIRREL: HOW A BACKYARD FORAGER SHAPES OUR WORLD

Squirrels are a common sight, seemingly everywhere in wild and urban nature. Their chattering antics in city parks delight us while their raids on our backyard gardens and birdfeeders never fail to exasperate. But squirrels are more than amusing backyard entertainers, and few of us know much about them or fully appreciate their role in keeping the environment healthy. Order SQUIRREL at your favorite indie bookstore, Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Audiobook available.

Honors

Green Earth Book Award Long List 2026
Booklist Starred Review
Top-Ten Most Discussable books, Booklist Reader, March 2026

Praise

“Charming, thoughtful and gorgeously rendered, Castaldo’s Squirrel delivers the very best of classical nature writing with a modern twist. If we can learn to love and protect these unheralded, quotidian creatures, perhaps we do indeed stand a chance against the larger uncertainties we collectively face.” —Karen Pinchin, author of internationally bestselling Kings of Their Own Ocean

“They’re ubiquitous but mysterious; adorable but sometimes reviled; ordinary but endlessly surprising. Almost everyone sees squirrels daily, yet we know almost nothing about these acrobatic backyard mammals. Thank you, Nancy Castaldo, for this delightful, riveting, thought-provoking book, and for finally giving squirrels the attention they deserve! I’ll be thinking and talking about these book pages for a long time.” –Sy Montgomery, author of Of Time and Turtles

🌟”An entertaining examination of [squirrels’] lives and relationships with humans…further deepening our fascination and affection for these ubiquitous backyard friends.” Booklist, Starred Review

“Passionate…Castaldo covers squirrels from every conceivable angle, examining their evolution, how they’ve been prepared as meals, and their depiction in mythology and popular culture…[Her] expertise and enthusiasm…[are] evident…” Publishers Weekly