Listen and read-along with this fun story by, Laura Daniels.

Samuel Squirrel lived in a tree on Maple Lane.

He climbed the highest tree,
grabbed the longest branch,
and would shake and quake it ‘til all the nuts fell to the ground.

The other squirrels carried one nut,
but Samuel carried three.

One day Samuel noticed a new shiny, black tree
with a seed branch on Maple Lane.

The birds spent lots of time there,
they pecked,
and flew,
and sang around the new seed branch.

Samuel watched as his squirrel neighbors tried to climb the shiny, black tree.
Some ran and leaped,
missed it and landed on the grass in a big heap!

Some went slow,
got close to the top,
looked around,
lost their balance,
and fell to the ground!

Some made it halfway around,
then slipped and shimmied fast to the ground!

They couldn’t reach the seed branch,
no matter how hard they tried.

One night Samuel heard the squirrel elders talk about the shiny, black tree.
“We need the food from the seed branch on the shiny, black tree.
If the birds can reach it, why can’t we?
We need those seeds to make it through the winter, you see.”

Samuel slept and dreamed about the seed branch.
He woke the following day with an idea…

Samuel climbed the shiny, black tree,
stretched out his arm,
but lost his footing on the slippery smooth, shiny, black tree,

and fell before he reached the seed branch.

This was harder than it looked.
Samuel had never fallen out of a tree before.
“Okay, no worries,” he said to himself.

From sun-up to sun-down
Samuel tried to climb the tree,
but slipped and fell to the ground.

Day after day, Samuel returned,
and with no time, he got stronger and more balanced.

Word spread around Maple Lane.
All his squirrel neighbors gathered,
and waited,
and watched.

Each day Samuel’s reach was steadier,
and his stay was longer on the shiny, black tree.

Finally, one day, Samuel got to the top,
stretched out his arm,

reached the seed branch,
and stayed!

Woo Hoo!

Slowly, Samuel pulled the seed branch towards him.
He tugged it closer.
and seeds rained down.

The squirrels all cheered!

Yay!

They danced around in celebration.
All of Samuel’s hard work paid off.

Hip-Hip-Hooray!

Samuel returned each day to the shiny, black tree.
He knew the correct number of seeds to spill
so everyone got their fill.

All the squirrels thanked Samuel because now
they had enough seeds to make it through the winter freeze.

THE END

About the Author

Laura Daniels is a prolific writer for adults and children. Founder of the Facebook blog The Fringe 999 – it’s published daily and welcomes members to share their creative endeavors. She’s been published in the Visible Ink 2021/2022 Anthology, New Jersey Bards Poetry Review 2022, Topical Poetry, and many other literary journals. She’s an active member of Women Who Write, Jersey Poets, and the Livingston Writers Critique Group and can be found on Instagram. Her writing explores transformation, nature, and slice of life. She lives with her family in Mount Arlington, New Jersey.