Acorn Island

Acorn Island is a view of the world from the limited perspective of a squirrel. Scree’s understanding of existence is formed in the nesting tree where survival within the group of siblings teaches him to eat at any opportunity and hide whatever couldn’t be eaten then and eat it later. His life unfolds within the sweeping shift of the seasons and in the changes brought about by a harsh climate and the other creatures competing for similar woodland resources. He is engaged in the pattern of life that is part of a circle, filling his assigned role. Complacently just as ignorant of what goes on beyond the range of his limited vision as the surrounding world is blind to the lives and deaths that take place at the edges of their own perception. The natural world provides the creatures that exist in it an ongoing series of challenges with dire consequences for bad luck, misjudgments, or failures; the continuance of life is a reward for the fortunate. This is a story of Scree, and the animals he interacts with, their struggles for sustenance and the ongoing battle to not become someone else's means of sustaining life. Acorn Island is a realistic portrayal of lives on the periphery of “civilization”, wildlife that exist without our help and in spite of our negligent exploitation of their natural home. Within the confines of the woodlots, riverbeds, and assorted landscapes that surround our homes and highways a world we were never meant to be separate from struggles along and in some cases thrives, this is a collection of their stories.