Title: The Amazing (and Accurate) Adventures of Chester Chipmunk: Based on a True Story
Author: Lily Beth Linders
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-5320-3070-3
Pages: 48
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book / Juvenile Nonfiction
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
The first thing which struck me as being funny and creative is the book’s title: The Amazing (and Accurate) Adventures of Chester Chipmunk – Based on a True Story. The word “Accurate” is correct, as author Lily Beth Linders does all which is humanly possible to recount the thoughts and challenges of a cute little chipmunk, Chester, as he gets captured by a “black and white monster” and brought into the basement of a house. There he had to hide to survive, occasionally finding food while he lost his grasp of time and days being held up in a dark spot. The “gargantuan two-legged apparition,” – better known as the son of a mother named “Mom,” saves Chester but still it is up to Chester’s clever and calculating survival skills to scavenge for food, stay strong and eventually seek his escape. Without being a spoiler to this adorable story, Chester gets reunited with his wife Chelsea; and they have too many children and Grandchildren to count, as they live the remainder of their days in a charming area off Reynolds Road in London, Ontario. That’s 100% accurate, by the way! There is even a photo of Chester making his escape down the steps of the house at the end of the story to prove it.
Adorned with lovely drawings of Chester at the start of each chapter chronicling his ordeal, one immediately gets a warm and fuzzy feeling for the innocence of chipmunks; God’s harmless creatures living peacefully and only wishing to gather nuts to eat, filling up their ballooning cheeks. A perfect protagonist for a children’s story, Chester manifests qualities of bravery, cunning, integrity and kindness. Move over Alvin; there’s a new chipmunk in town!
The humor in this book is both superficial and subliminal, as you cannot read any sentence without plastering an ear-to-ear smile on your face. To articulate the mindset of a chipmunk, especially going through the ordeal of captivity, takes extraordinary skill, as Lily Beth Linders makes it look all so easy. She has a comforting way with words, expressing perfectly the world as vicariously seen through the eyes of Chester. This book is destined to be an award-winner due to its theme, humor and empathy in its teachings to youngsters. The moral being small animals are happiest in the freedom of nature, with those of their own kind. I will forewarn you after reading this book, it will make you go to the kitchen and put together a peanut butter sandwich – Chester’s favorite food. That’s 100% accurate!
