Begins with the well known nursery rhyme. What follows is a mess. Every one of the animals in the town come to the sheep asking her for something. She doesn't have what they need and kindly tells them so. Apparently the animals are offended and join together to confront the sheep. They call her unkind, "mean," and complain that she knits all day. The illustration for this page is complete with all of the animals in a posture of righteous indignation. All is well when the the sheep shows them the beautiful things she has been knitting them. Then they back off, because she has finally given them something. Sure in the end they all promise to share when they have something special to give, but what about being angry when someone has nothing to give? Is it right to expect others to give what they don't have simply because we ask? ( )

This nursery rhyme is about a sheep who makes wool. He is visited by several friends who each have a special request. These friends range from cats requesting milk to a mouse requesting cheese. The only problem is that Black Sheep does not have any of those items to give.

This book was one of my son's first books that his grandmother gave him and it is one of his favorites. This is a great nursery rhyme for preschoolers and kindergarteners. The colorful illustrations help teach a great lesson in giving.

For a classroom extension, I would have students bring to school their most prized possession to do a show and tell. Another idea would be to assign each child or let them choose a character in the story. They would then draw a picture of that character taking their something special to Black Sheep. ( )