Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary (2010), a short story collection by the American humorist David Sedaris, contains sixteen stories about anthropomorphized animals, their relationships, and their inner lives.

The first story, "The Cat and the Baboon," concerns a cat that visits with a baboon so he can groom her before she goes to a party. As Sedaris noted in an interview, none of the animals have names because they are meant to be identified solely by their species—no other identification is necessary, he argues. As the baboon collects fleas from the cat's fur and inserts them between his teeth, the baboon seems to be nosily prying into the nature of the party, to the cat's slight annoyance. They discuss how it's difficult to throw parties for multiple types of animals because some animals eat plants while others eat peanuts. The cat does not like peanuts at all. Their conversation culminates with a discussion about the differences between when a cat cleans its anus and when a dog does. When a cat does it, it's "classy," the baboon says, to which the cat of course wholeheartedly agrees. “‘There’s a grace to it,’ the baboon says, ‘but a dog, you know the way they hunker over, legs going every which way.’” The story ends with a question the baboon poses to herself, internally: "What would it hurt to pretend otherwise and cross that fine line between licking ass and simply kissing it?" The species-ism at the heart of the story is a thinly veiled reference to Americans' racism.

The second story, "The Migrating Warblers," also concerns issues of racism. The titular birds have just returned to Texas from their migration in Guatemala. When they return, they relate tales of Central America that they find to be scandalous or gruesome. They recount their experiences in a sort of mangled "Spanglish" that disrespects the region from which they've just returned.



"The Faithful Setter" concerns a couple of dogs who debate whether or not it's cheating for the male dog to be a "stud" used to impregnate other dogs. He husband argues that it's not cheating, it's only work. Then the wife-dog considers getting employment herself; for example, she could "lug around" a blind person all day.

Other stories, like "The Motherless Bear," concern issues of internal struggle. In this tale, a bear spirals while obsessing over her stepmother's recent demise. There's also a lot of inter-species sexual activity. For example, in the closing tale, "The Grieving Owl," the titular bird is discovered by her family whilst in the midst of a threesome of sorts with a hippo and a gerbil. The stories also touch on broad social issues such as the AIDS epidemic, particularly in a story titled "The Sick Rat and the Healthy Rat."

The rest of the stories are as follows: "The Squirrel and the Chipmunk," "The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck," "The Mouse and the Snake," "The Parenting Storks," "The Crow and the Lamb," "The Cow and the Turkey," "The Vigilant Rabbit," "The Judicious Brown Chicken," "The Parrot and the Potbellied Pig," and "Hello Kitty."



Perhaps the closest pop culture analog to Sedaris' wry, humorous depictions of animals with very human problems is the HBO television series Animals; so if you've seen Animals, you have a very strong impression of what lies in store for you when you read the stories found in Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk.