Sharing is not necessarily natural or easy for young ones, and Layne’s book only makes the act less so. Here are two rabbits, little bunny and littler bunny, and little bunny is getting a lesson in sharing. When little bunny is playing safari with his friends and there is no wild-animal mask for littler bunny, who is bawling, Mommy takes little bunny’s mask and gives it to littler bunny. “Share with brother and someday brother will share with you.” Then Nana makes him share his slice of cake—why doesn’t she just cut littler bunny a slice?—and Uncle Lester reminds him to share at his birthday party. Soured to the point of bitterness, little bunny flings Uncle Lester’s present back at him. Who can blame him, but who likes him for it? Hoyt’s artwork, meanwhile, is as colorful as holiday cookies and wonderfully drenched in heavy body language, all squinty eye and deep frown. In a meant-to-be-humorous twist, littler bunny freely shares his measles, but since readers have nothing genuine invested in either bunny—one grumpy, one spoiled—the humor disappears like smoke. (Picture book. 4-6)
