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Little Gerbil has to hid her sleeping habits because she doesn’t like sleeping nose to toes, as stated in the Gerbil Motto. She’s been lying to her Grandpa, the enforcer of the motto, but when she discovers she isn’t the only one in the family not following the mottos, she confesses at a Gerbil Circle meeting. “I’ve only been pretending to sleep Nose to Toes. That motto does not fit me. I don’t fit it.”
You can almost hear the sigh of relief from the others after Little Gerbil finishes talking. In their next breath, they start revealing how they, too, haven’t been following the mottos exactly. Before the meeting is over, Grandpa pulls out the Squeak Book and makes some modifications to the mottos--modifications that allow everyone (even Grandpa) to feel good about themselves.
The plasticine illustrations by Del Rizzo (Skink on the Brink) are set in a gerbil cage full of shavings. The home is cozy (the metal bars are not shown) and decorated with alphabet blocks, knitted toys, and practical furniture like a spool chair and a coconut shell bed. The gerbils have a view of the sky and a wheel to exercise on. The gerbils don’t always act like real gerbils, but Del Rizzo shows them tunneling, chewing, and sleeping like real gerbils do.
Back material includes two pages of factss and instructions on how to make a plasticine gerbil like the one in the book.
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Gerbil, Uncurled (Tell Me More Storybook)