By Sue Graves, Illustrations by Desideria Guicciardini
Review by Debra L Scott
Not Fair, Won’t Share is one of a new four-book series from Free Spirit Publishing called “Our Emotions and Behaviors”. The other books in the series are: But Why Can’t I? , I’m Not Happy, and Who Feels Scared?
This book is about a classroom situation where one child won’t let other children play with a new make-believe set, so another child pushes her and a third child grabs one of the pieces away from her. All three children are disciplined, then return to the play set and share without fighting. The story also shows that the teacher got mad and had to calm herself down.
This is a likely occurrence in any classroom, so the child reader may well be able to relate to the story. I was glad to see that the feelings of the adult were included, as this is a factor often missed. Adults are often portrayed as always happy, wise, kind and understanding.
My concern is that this is a book geared for adults who want to communicate a set of behaviors to children, and that children themselves will not choose to pick it up and read, much like adults who avoid the self-help shelf in the library or bookstore. It is not a fun thing to be reminded that your behavior might cause problems for yourself or others. Nevertheless, it is a valuable asset for leading discussions about how we all must learn to get along and share the world we live in. It is also valuable in opening up a discussion that adults have feelings just like children.
Not Fair, Won’t Share seeks to show the consequences of bad behavior, and how correct behavior makes everyone happy. After the story, there is a two page story board without words describing a similar situation. Children are encouraged to talk about what is happening in the pictures and answer questions about it. Following this is a teacher/parent guide to the book with tips on how to discuss the issues presented and gives suggested topics for discussion.
The vocabulary of the story is suitable for young readers to sound out by themselves, but not the included instructions which are intended solely for the adult. The illustrations are expressive and simple so that it is easy to see how each character feels about what is happening.
Word Seeds 