It's My Turn, Smudge!, by Miriam Moss and Lynne Chapman, was a very cute book with a great lesson on sharing. The illustrations in this book showed ,in wonderful detail, the emotions of characters, and the stories plot. The images were well done and could explain the main idea of the story even if there had been no text. Another aspect of the story I enjoyed was the topic, I know the topic of sharing is not really a 'push topic' but I do feel it is something that kids need to read about. Sharing is a topic that needs to be discussed and this book created a great story about sharing, that is written in a positive manner. The last part of the story I liked was that the book used animals instead of people. Many books do this and I believe the reason is to keep race out of the topic. This book does this and its a great addition to the positive attitude of the book. I loved the book, and I felt the main idea was sharing.

Smudge made a brand new fishing net to hep her catch things from the river. She was so excited that when her friends saw her, she did not pay any attention to them. They all wanted a turn with the net, but she refused to share. Her friends then left her and caught their own things from the river without her. Smudge felt left out, and then decided to share.

This is an excellent representation of a fable. The story uses a mouse, Smudge, to teach the importance of sharing. The story was written in a great way to help children understand that you can have fun while you share. The characterization of Smudge is great. She is a round character that realizes sharing helps make friends. Therefore, she changes, shares with her friends, and becomes a happy mouse.

Have a class discussion on what it means to share with friends. Have students draw a picture about an item they want to share with their friends and then write a sentence or paragraph about what it means to share.