Book Review: Toaff's Way

Toaff's Way by Cynthia Voigt is a children's chapter book told from the point of view of a young squirrel. Toaff begins the story living inside a dead tree before it is knocked over in a storm. Toaff must then navigate the world on his own, choosing where to shelter and how to stockpile food for the inevitable winter. His situation and the cast of characters around him are always shifting.

The names chosen for the characters are worth a mention in this book. All the squirrels have names that end in 'f' -- Toaff, Criff, Nilf, Soaff, Mroof, Tzaaf, Pneef, and so on, and admittedly this made distinguishing among side characters more difficult than it needed to be. The cats are named Snake and Fox, which also seems to be asking for confusion.

The descriptions for houses, barns, even roads ran the gamut of either effectively showing how Toaff ordered his world or seeming forced and stilted. In fact, I still couldn't figure out who one of the predators towards the end was meant to be, even after the descriptions.

However, even with those criticisms, there were descriptions in the book I appreciated. As an example of how Toaff compartmentalizes his world, he shares, "Predator was a word with long dark wings and sharp talons, while prey was a quick little word, helpless as a mouse." And while Toaff tends to be simple in his desires (shelter, food, companionship), there is heartfelt longing expressed in the words, "He never had belonged here and he had always known it. He had just hoped he did, and wanted to."

The origin stories different animals share brought me amusement as they argued who was in charge; perhaps the sheep caused the lake to be formed, then "caught" a farmer driving by one night, convincing him to stay and serve them. Or maybe the dogs are running the show.

This book was an uneven read for me. I suspect younger readers would be less critical and be quicker to embrace the story (even as I genuinely enjoy children's books, I recognize I can be harder to please). Experiencing the book through a squirrel's perspective would lead to interesting reflections and conversations among readers, and I can imagine excellent writing prompts that could come out of a reading of this book as students can create a short story from the perspective of another animal: How would your goldfish view daily events? What goes through your dog's mind when he's watching out the window?

(I received a free digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The included Amazon links are affiliate links; should you be inclined to complete a purchase, these links only mean Amazon will give me a small percentage of the cost, at no additional expense to you.)