MY FRIEND BEN WON'T SHARE

Chip would be the first to tell you that Ben is a good friend. Both enjoy building forts and towers, making stories, and playing in the water. Alas, they also both like Chip’s dump truck, and when Chip feels that Ben has used up his time with it, a tug of war ensues. In a surprising display of poor toy-truck construction, it snaps in two. Chip mulls over whether they can ever be friends again, but after much contemplation (and Ben’s apologetic application of duct tape), forgiveness springs from both parties. In framing the dilemma as one in which the guest refuses to share one of the host’s toys, the book places the weight of the resulting disaster on both parties; shouldn’t Chip just let Ben play with the truck, knowing Ben will eventually go home? That is not to say that some very young readers won’t side entirely with Chip against Ben. Yet the book makes an active decision not to preach or dole out firm lessons. This message is one of exculpation rather than a correction for the future. Simple, cheery cartoon art places all action in an anthropomorphized beaver world where some drive floating cars made out of huge logs and Chip’s mom sports a jaunty sleeveless T.

The tale offers commiseration in lieu of a corrective—a pleasingly subtle variation on a familiar theme.