Squirrel and Duck Books in Order

The Squirrel and Duck books are illustrated comic adventures about two very unlikely roommates. Squirrel is prickly and easily annoyed. Duck is cheerful, confident, and often the reason a small problem becomes a much bigger one. They live together in the ruins of an old theme park, which is a strange enough arrangement before the mysteries begin.

They also share an even stranger secret. Squirrel and Duck are the only talking animals in the world.

That question, why can they talk, sits behind the series' wild plots. In Mission Improbable, the pair's home is threatened, pushing them into a chaotic search for somewhere safe. Their path involves crimes, suspicious people, and increasingly unlikely plans. The friendship is constantly tested, mostly because Squirrel and Duck have very different ideas about what counts as a sensible decision.

In Invasion of the Doggy-Snatchers, dogs everywhere start behaving oddly. Squirrel and Duck discover that aliens are taking over dogs' bodies, leaving the two roommates with a very large problem to solve. The action is silly, quick, and packed with jokes, but the characters' loyalty to each other still matters.

The third book, Quack to the Future, digs further into the mystery of the animals' origins. Duck begins having flashbacks of a secret underground laboratory, and the pair set out to find it. Along the way, they meet a ferret, a hostile scientist, and clues that change what they thought they knew about themselves.

These are lively chapter books for readers who like absurd humor, short chapters, mysteries, and plenty of pictures. The stories have high stakes, but they never take themselves too seriously.

Start with Mission Improbable. It introduces the ruined theme park, the odd-couple friendship, and the first big adventure. Then continue in order, because the later books build on the mystery of why Squirrel and Duck are the world's only talking animals.