- Graphic Novels
- Ages 6–9
- Comedy
Bird & Squirrel On Ice
Book 2 of 7 in Bird & SquirrelView the full series
The duo lands somewhere completely wrong, the Antarctic, and has to survive both the cold and a killer whale. On Ice escalates the peril and expands the world while keeping the same irresistible odd-couple dynamic.
- Best for6–9
- FormatGraphic
- Length112 pp
- Read aloud~53 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Comedic
- Conversational
- Onomatopoeic
Tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Exciting
- Adventurous
- Suspenseful
- Warm
- Absurdist
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Bird and Squirrel end up at the South Pole, entirely by accident, and must navigate penguins, extreme cold, and a killer whale before they can get home. On Ice is more action-forward than book one, the fish_out_of_water plot engine sits underneath the disaster_survival primary, giving the book two layers of comedy: the wrong-place-wrong-person joke and the running-for-your-life joke. The wonder_level nudges to 3 because the Antarctic setting gives Burks room to do visual things the forest can't. The character dynamic is fully established now and the book leans into it hard: Bird's bottomless confidence and Squirrel's absolute certainty that this will end badly are both vindicated at different moments. A strong follow-up that doesn't just repeat book one.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 6–9
- Read aloud · 5–8
- Independent · 6–9
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Workable
Works well for
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
3 / 5 · Mostly fine
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Reluctant readers
- Laugh out loud
- Exciting adventure
- Gift book
Avoid if
No common reasons to avoid this one — a rare clean sweep on the sensitivity flags.
Particularly good for children who are…
- Reluctant reader
- Struggling with reading
- Making friends
- Anxiety and worry
- Nightmares or fears
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A funny, fast-moving friendship-adventure comic series — a reluctant-reader favourite and classroom-library staple.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific kick is being completely wrong-place wrong-person — Bird and Squirrel accidentally at the South Pole, penguins, killer whales, neither of them remotely equipped for any of it. The Bird & Squirrel where the duo's odd-couple dynamic gets its biggest setting test.
- Animal companions
- Adventure and freedom
- Surviving danger
Why parents love it
The Bird & Squirrel sequel that doesn't just repeat the formula — fish-out-of-water plus survival peril, an Antarctic setting that gives Burks fresh visual material. Bird's bottomless confidence and Squirrel's certain doom both vindicated at different moments.
- Shared humour
- Quick to read
- Bedtime appropriate
In the series
Bird & Squirrel.
7 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
James Burks.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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