Oh, the Places a Squash Will Go!

Welcome back to our weeklong celebration of Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller! TODAY is actually the book’s official publication day, so that means that Sophie and Bernice (Sophie’s beloved butternut) are out in the world right now. Hurrah!

We EMUs decided to commemorate this occasion by taking a page out of Sophie’s book and spending the day with some squashes of our own.

At Mylisa Larsen’s house, Berthold the butternut put on his reading glasses and snuggled up with Kate for his favorite bedtime story. 🙂

Meanwhile, Tara Lazar’s daughters hit the pool with Squashie and Squasharella, who gave a whole new meaning to the term “summer squash.”

Hey, squashbathers, don’t forget the squashscreen!

But why should kids have all the fun? Carol Brendler took her squash, Myrtle, out to see the Celtic band Finger on the Trigger in Chicago. Between sets, Myrtle made herself comfortable in the banjo case.

Meanwhile, across town, Christine Hayes and her lucky squash took in a Cubs game!

Over in Colorado, Jeannie Mobley and her squash enjoyed a fancy dinner out.

Quoth Jeannie: “My squash isn’t a spaghetti squash. She’s just a squash that enjoys spaghetti.”

Not far away, Bernadette was playing the role of stowaway squash on my hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Once she made it out of my pocket, she enjoyed the views.

Too bad this mule deer had to photobomb our family portrait!

Bernadette may have scared off the deer, but in Laurie Thompson’s house, the squash-animal bond was strong.

Laurie’s squash even made friends with foster dog Boogalu (who is available for adoption!).

And over at Donna Bowman Bratton’s, a fiesty “cowgirl baby squash” made some new friends, too.

(Here’s a bonus close-up of cowgirl squash, because seriously, how cute is she??)

These interspecies friendships don’t always have happy endings, though. Josh McCune took his squash to…well, play squash. (Genius!)

Things were looking pretty good for Squashie…

But Josh won out in the end.

Giveaway alert: All week long, commenters are entered to win a signed copy of SOPHIE’S SQUASH, plus temporary tattoos of Sophie and Bernice!

So tell us–where would you and your pet squash spend the day?

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Tara Dairman is a novelist, playwright, and recovering world traveler. All Four Stars, her debut middle-grade novel about an 11-year-old who secretly becomes a New York restaurant critic, will be published in 2014 by Putnam/Penguin.

Find her online at taradairman.com.