Mine!

by Candace Fleming (Author) Eric Rohmann (Illustrator)

Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

This rhythmic read-aloud about sharing by an award-winning author and a Caldecott medalist features a series of hilariously selfish forest animals.

In a tall, tall tree, at the tip-tippy top, hangs a single red apple...

Along skirts Mouse. "An apple!" she squeaks, "How divine! When it tumbles to the ground, it'll all be mine!" And so it goes, for Hare, Fox, Deer, and Bear, who each can't wait to get their hands on the apple. Soon the wind huffs and puffs, the branch snips and snaps, and down the apple falls. Only one shiny red apple for five furry creatures? What are they to do?!

Here is a read-aloud picture book, perfect for storytime, that will have kids repeating the refrain "Mine!"... complete with an ending that celebrates sharing and is sure to surprise!

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$18.99

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Kirkus Reviews

Crisp and tart by turns, this is one book worth fighting over.

Horn Book Magazine

Starred Review

[A] spirited, visually pleasing read-aloud.

Booklist

Starred Review
Full of energy and fun, Mine! is an extremely fruitful pick for storytime.

Publishers Weekly

This rhyming fable by married team Fleming and Rohmann (Oh, No!) begins with a single, shiny red apple hanging from a tree, ready to fall. Spotting it amid the leaves, several animals each decide--seemingly unbeknownst to others--that it will be "Mine!" Every development occurs with satisfying predictability as the animals' approaches are each described with an appropriate verb ("Along skittered Mouse"), and a following quatrain (" 'An apple, ' squeaked she./ 'Mmm-mmm, how divine./ When it tumbles to the ground, / it'll all be mine!' "). And creatively concocted action verbs follow Mouse, Rabbit, Fox, Deer, and Bear as they await the coming feast (Bear "stompety-flopped/ behind a pile of rocks to wait"). The apple falls, as anticipated, but things don't work out the way the animals expect. In striking stained-paper and relief-printed art that draws and holds viewers' attention, bold black outlines, blue skies, varying perspectives, and the animals' expressive faces create a story that's easy to follow, making the surprise ending all the funnier in this reminder not to count one's apples before they fall--and to share generously when they do. Ages 3-7. Agent (for author and illustrator): Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Agency. (Aug.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Humorous. —Shelf Awareness

Candace Fleming
Candace Fleming is the prolific author of countless books, including The Family Romanov, a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book and the recipient of both the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Young Adult Literature; The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh, receipient of the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction and which received five starred reviews; Amelia Lost, which received four starred reviews; and most recently Murder Among Friends, which received five starred reviews. She has teamed up with illustrator Eric Rohmann for several acclaimed picture books including Oh, No! which received three starred reviews, and Honeybee, which received seven starred reviews and the Robert F. Sibert Medal. Her books have appeard on countless Best of the Year lists. Candace lives outside of Chicago.

Eric Rohmann is the author/illustrator of the Caldecott Medal-winning My Friend Rabbit and the Caldecott Honor Book Time Flies. He also illustrated Candace Fleming's Giant Squid which received three starred reviews, Honeybee, which received the Robert F. Sibert Medal. The New York Times has called his work "positively riveting." Eric lives outside of Chicago.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593181669
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Anne Schwartz Books
Publication date
August 20, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV039220 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Values & Virtues
JUV002000 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | General
Library of Congress categories
Picture books
Stories in rhyme
Forest animals
Apples
Animal fiction

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