Squiggly didn’t look like the other squirrels. He had bright eyes and a cute, perky nose, but his ears were twice as long as the other squirrels. And while all the other squirrels climbed trees and balanced themselves with their long, bushy tails, Squiggly’s tail was short and skinny.

Squiggly didn’t quite fit in. When he tried to climb trees and play with the other squirrels, he always lost his balance and fell down. Squiggly didn’t like being different. He wanted to be like everyone else.

Squiggly had two best friends—Sammie and Suzie.

They called themselves “The Gang.”

Sammie was tall, thin, and a little shy. Suzie was short and round but always playful and fun. Both of his friends had long, thick tails, just like a squirrel’s tail should be.

They could climb and jump and use their tails to balance themselves. He wished he could be like them.

And then there was Archie, the playground bully. He was always jumping and climbing from branch to branch.

He could climb to the top of any tree! He didn’t seem to be scared of anything.

“I’m the king of the playground,” he’d yell from the top of the big maple tree.

Archie always reminded Squiggly that he was different from the other squirrels.

“Squiggly, Squiggly, slow as can be. You can’t climb trees ’cause you’re different from me!” Archie chanted.

Archie would then point and say, “You look like a chipmunk with that skinny tail and a rabbit with those ears.” All of the squirrels would laugh at Squiggly.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Squiggly had another problem. When his teacher, Mrs. Doodlebug, asked him to read the twenty-six alphabet letters on the board, he couldn’t see the letters very well. Mrs. Doodlebug sent a letter home to Squiggly’s mom. He was so upset when his mom told him that he might need glasses.

“Oh great!” said Squiggly. “Maybe Archie is right. I don’t look like the other squirrels. And now I might need glasses! What if the kids make fun of me? What if they call me ‘Four Eyes’? What if the eye exam hurts?” He wasn’t very happy.

Squiggly’s mom hugged him and said, “Don’t worry, Squiggly. Everything is going to be fine. I love you just the way you are, and I will love you the same if you need glasses.”

The next day, when Squiggly arrived at Dr. Peeper’s office, he was so nervous. He couldn’t sit still. He squirmed and squiggled in the chair.

Squiggly noticed that Dr. Peeper’s ears were very large, and his tail was short and skinny, just like Squiggly’s tail. Dr. Peeper was wearing thick, green glasses.

“Hello, Squiggly,” Dr. Peeper said with a smile. “I understand that you are having some trouble seeing the alphabet letters at school. I will be doing an eye test, which will let us know if you need glasses. Can you look at the letters on the eye chart and read the first line?”

“Okay, I will try,” Squiggly said. He squinted his eyes. The letters were blurry, and he could only see some of them.

“A, O, E, I?” he said very quietly.

Dr. Peeper then said, “Can you read the second row of letters?”

“G, P, T, Y,” Squiggly replied. He was sure that he had gotten the letter “T” correct, but he wasn’t so sure about the other letters.

Dr. Peeper smiled. “Well, Squiggly, it seems that you are having trouble reading some of the letters. You are going to need glasses.”

Squiggly started to cry. He couldn’t believe that he needed glasses! Now all the squirrels would have another reason to make fun of him.

“You did a great job, Squiggly,” Dr. Peeper said.
“There’s nothing wrong with wearing glasses. I’ve been wearing glasses for years. You can pick out any glasses you want and in any color.”

Squiggly hadn’t thought of that! He couldn’t believe he could pick out any color that he wanted. There were so many glasses to choose from! He loved the color blue, so he selected a pair of blue glasses. For a moment, he had forgotten about being different. He couldn’t stop looking at himself in the mirror with his new blue glasses.

“You look so handsome in your new glasses,” his mother said. Squiggly hoped that his friends would like them too!

That night, when Squiggly took a bath, he didn’t take off his glasses. He didn’t take off his glasses when he went to bed. In the morning when he was getting dressed, he couldn’t get his shirt on because he wouldn’t take his glasses off.

“Now, honey, I’m so happy that you like your new glasses, but you’ll need to take them off sometimes so they don’t get broken,” his mother said.

At first, Squiggly stomped his foot and crossed his arms. He didn’t want to take his glasses off . . . ever! But he knew his mom was right. He didn’t want his glasses to get broken.

Before school, Squiggly thought about Archie and all his teasing. “Mom, why do you think Archie bullies us at recess?” Squiggly asked.

“Honey, sometimes kids say mean things because they don’t feel good about themselves, and making fun of others takes the attention off themselves,” his mom replied.

Squiggly thought for a moment, then said, “Maybe I should ask Archie if he wants to play with me and The Gang at recess. Sammie and Suzie are so nice. I know they would include him too.”

“What a great idea,” his mom replied.

Squiggly couldn’t wait to go to school! When Squiggly walked into his classroom, he held his head high. He couldn’t wait for the other students to notice how handsome he looked in his new glasses.

Mrs. Doodlebug’s eyes grew wide. “Squiggly, is that you?” she asked. The whole class gathered around him to see his blue glasses.

“You look older,” Suzie said.

“I have to go to Dr. Peeper,” Sammie said. “I’m really scared.”

Squiggly smiled. He remembered how scared he had been at Dr. Peeper’s office, but now he was the happiest squirrel in the world!

“Don’t be scared, Sammie. Dr. Peeper is so nice, and he lets you pick out the glasses you want.”

“Wow!” Sammie said. “I feel a lot better. I want a red pair of glasses!”

Squiggly smiled. He knew that Sammie didn’t want to look like everyone else. He wanted to be different too.

Suddenly, Archie seemed to appear out of nowhere. “So you got glasses, Squiggly?” he sneered.

Normally, Squiggly would have kept his head down while talking to Archie, but not today. “Hey, Archie, do you want to play with me and The Gang at recess? I can’t climb trees very well, but we could play tag or hide and seek. I’m a great hider,” Squiggly said.

To his surprise, Archie smiled and said, “Sure. I will play with you and your friends today.” He started to walk away, but then he turned around and said, “I will slow down so you can keep up with me, Squiggly. That’s what friends do for each other.”

Squiggly was so happy that he had made a new friend.

“Good morning, class,” Mrs. Doodlebug said. “Please sit down at your desks.” She then passed out a paper that had all twenty-six letters of the alphabet on it. “I want you all to circle the letter after I say it out loud.”

All of Squiggly’s fears came rushing back.

What if he couldn’t see the letters? Wait a minute, Squiggly thought, I can do this!

When Mrs. Doodlebug said the letter “B,” Squiggly circled the letter “B” on his paper. When she said the letter “G,” Squiggly circled the letter “G.” He was so excited. He couldn’t wait to tell his mom.

That night, when Squiggly was getting ready for bed, he took off his glasses and put them in their case. He loved his new glasses and didn’t want them to get broken. He was going to take good care of them.

Squiggly didn’t look like all the other squirrels, but that was okay. He liked being different.