Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary (titled Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Wicked Bestiary outside the United States) is a collection of animal-themed humorous short stories by memoirist and humorist David Sedaris. The collection was published in September 2010.
First edition cover | |
| Author | David Sedaris |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Ian Falconer |
| Cover artist | Ian Falconer |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Essay collection, Fiction |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
Publication date | September 28, 2010 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover), audiobook |
| Pages | 176 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | 978-0-316-03839-3 |
| Preceded by | When You Are Engulfed in Flames |
| Followed by | Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls |
Sedaris did not give the animals names, using only such names as 'chipmunk' and 'squirrel.' Animals, he said, don't need description. Sedaris said in an October 2010 interview with The Washington Post,
If I wrote, "Phillip and Amanda had been dating for two weeks when they ran out of things to talk about", I would have to give you a whole description. But, everyone knows what a squirrel and a chipmunk look like. So, I wrote it as, "The squirrel and the chipmunk had been dating for two weeks when they ran out of things to talk about."
Sedaris was inspired after reading a book of stories from South African mythology about anthropomorphic animals. Believing he could do better with a modern twist, he wrote 25 stories over two years, with the aim to ensure a high quality book by cutting ten of the 25.