Book Reviews: Two New Ones on Sharing

Little Mouse's BIG Secret

Author/Illustrator: Eric Battut

Interest Level: Ages 4-8

Publisher: Sterling Publishing

From the Book Jacket: When Little Mouse finds a delicious apple, he knows, exactly what to do. He decides to keep it a secret from all of his friends and buries the apple safely in the ground. But by the end of this charming story, Eric Battut's endearingly selfish mouse realizes it's better to share a secret than to keep it all to on one's self.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: We giggled our way through this story. Mouse is being a real stinker...a sneaky and selfish stinker. He's doing the classic "I'm not gonna share with no one!" behavior. He tries to hide the apple. Know any kids who try and hide toys etc? Little Mouse's Big Secret is clever and the illustrations tell the real story. When you make the decision to be generous over being selfish - you will reap so many inner rewards. Love those kind of kid conversations.

That's Mine
Author/Illustrator: Jennifer Northway
Interest Level: Ages 4-8
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Publishers  

From the Book Jacket: William thinks it's no fun having a little sister. Not only does Emma take up all Mom's time, but she wants to play with William's toys - especially his favorite, Spotty Cat. But when Emma is ill and nothing can make her stop crying, William has a brilliant idea.....


Why It's On My Bookshelf: This is a validating story for the older sibling. They can get easily annoyed with a younger sister or brother who steps onto their turf. It's actually a bit complex. What you may see as mean behavior towards the younger sibling may really be a form of communication. No longer getting all the attention and having to share everything can be rough business at first. The ending to this story is sweet. It's about finding the soft spot in a child's heart (love) so they can figure out their new family role.


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