Mine!

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. [em]Agent (for author and illustrator): Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Agency. (Aug.) [/em]