Independent Reading Level: PreK-2

Helps with Sibling rivalry.

I think this is a good book overall. The Little Critter series is great for younger children who are just learning how to read. Because Mercer Mayer was an artist before he became a writer, he illustrates all his own books. This allows for detailed characters and setting, helping to tell the story. The text fits the pictures which combines to make a really well-written book for emerging readers. I like the Little Critter series because the same characters appear in every book, children begin to form a relationship with them. The illustrations have a hidden mouse or frog on every page, this engages young readers and allows them to become familiar with books and form a strong concept of print. The moral of this story is about getting along with your siblings. The topic is so relatable to the age group that the readers form connections and make inferences which are key elements in reading. ( )

love this book because I have a younger sibling ( )

Age group(s): Early Elementary (Pre-K-3), 4-8
This story is a Little Critter book. It is a trade book and in some ways, a predictable book. The story is about a big brother and a little sister who wants to do everything that her big brother does. This drives the big brother crazy and he gets tired of having to include her in everything. Until… the very end of the story, the little sister has a candy cane and he wants her to share and guess what, she does. The illustrations in this book (and all Little Critter books) are very cute and show emotion very well. You can see the body language that the older brother is showing when he is frustrated with his little sister. He will be holding his head or rolling his eyes so we can tell he is annoyed. I would use this book in my classroom to talk about family and who may have a little sibling like this. I would also talk about frustration and other emotions, body language and how we read it, and having patients. I may even connect it to my classroom by talking about “Do we always want other friends to join in on our games when we are at school?” “But it is fair to tell them that they can’t play with us?” and so on. ( )