HUNTER’S BIG SISTER

Hunter, a young raccoon, has already learned the hard way about friendship and sportsmanship. Here he nearly teases his sister to death before wising up. Not that his sister, whom he adores but who is rather bossy, doesn’t deserve some minor torment. She’s the kind of sister who, when play-acting a fairy tale, takes all the choice roles and casts Hunter as the pumpkin or the pea. Hunter’s revenge, or when he’s simply bored, is to mimic his sister. This drives his sister to distraction and, one day, right out of their tree house, where she takes the express lane to the ground. (Munsinger’s gentle artwork takes the worst of the sting out of the fall.) Can Hunter mend his ways as he tends to his bruised sister? Can the siblings get their respective acts together without courting a personal-injury lawsuit? It’s Hunter’s job to learn from the experience, and he is going to step in a lot of mud before he finds his path. Like a capsized sailboat that rights itself, Hunter is self-correcting while beaming the message, “Don’t do this at home, kids.” (Picture book. 4-7)