July 1st, 2023
Happy July, squirrels!
This month is (and in my heart always will be) Brushfire month. Not only will we be spending some sweet time spilling tea on the wildlife of the Burrow, but Wave 2 officially drops in just a few days (July 4th, 2023!).
If you don’t know the mission statement by now: “Brushfire exists to reveal and respect the truths of the universe, and to protect and provide for all of its inhabitants.”
That mission statement may be too much for any one animal to live up to.
Brushfire is an advanced society of wildlife who live in the Burrow, a sprawling subterranean city built deep under Faribault’s Central Park.
Squirrels Bay and Elle, along with Elle’s brothers Dur and Donnie and new mouse recruit Erwin, are members of FLARE: Fair Leaders in Action, Relief, and Exploration.
In Wave 1, we were introduced to a group of elite scientists called the Ekpyrotic Ensemble, who were lost overnight while trying to tap into a vast source of mysterious power, which may come from another universe, called the Flip Side by the Ensemble.
In Wave 2, FLARE visits River Bend, a forest community on the edge of town, to ask their leader Estelle for permission to take a power source that could reopen the doorway to the Flip Side and possibly bring the Ekpyrotic Ensemble home.
All July, we’ll be toasting s’mores and talking Brushfire: sources of inspiration, its deep roots and surprising growth and the way it’s blossomed into a three-plus-year passion project for me.
The only person who would put this much of themselves into a talking squirrel book is a boy who is certainly nuts.
The Den 