Skunks for Breakfast.

Sylvia Pantaleo is an assistant professor of education specializing in
children’s literature at Queen’s University and the co-author of
Learning with Literature in the Canadian Elementary Classroom.

Based on true events and his 2002 film, The Skunk Whisperer, Choyce tells the tale of how their Nova Scotia home was invaded by skunks one winter. Pamela, the youngest daughter, narrates the story of how she awoke one morning to the offensive odour of skunk. The skunk smell permeates everything, and because Pamela’s clothing has absorbed some of the odour, she is ostracized on the school bus and eventually sent home from school. Her father also causes a “stink” on a flight to Toronto because the skunks had sat upon the newspaper he brought from home. When the older sister, Sunyata, returns to the residence after spending the night at a friend’s, she is surprised to see everyone’s clothes outside hanging from bushes and scattered on the ground.

The smelly problem continues, so Pamela’s father buys a trap for catching animals. Fortunately the family is successful and the skunk is taken to the wilderness and released. The trap is reset and, yes, another skunk is caught and set free. In total, 16 skunks are trapped in the crawl space of Choyce’s home!

The problem of the skunk invasion is entertaining. The characters’ facial expressions communicating their displeasure at the unpleasant skunk aroma (depicted with squiggly lines) add to the amusement of the tale. Many of the colourful illustrations include humorous details, and the final single page, which is wordless, shows the skunk family heading down a snow-covered hill towards Choyce’s house.

Recommended.