Squirrels in Collision

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris, illustrated by Ian Falconer (2010): Fairly short, illustrated book of very skewed modern fables involving talking animals. I suppose the model is Aesop's Fables super-collided with Beatrix Potter and the Just-So stories and more than a hint of Animal Farm, though these stories really aren't for children.

Nonetheless, they do obliquely teach lessons about hypocrisy, political correctness, societal expectations, sexual identity, anal leeches in hippos, and the importance of not letting your kids dress the gerbil in a skin-tight bikini.

I enjoyed it a lot, and the illustrations by Ian Falconer are pretty swell. As in both the animal and human kingdoms, there's a certain amount of death and disfigurement, though of course such things also happen in the aforementioned 'talking animals' predecessors to Sedaris. A sharp, short read. Recommended.