From the title page where the word “fractioned” is substituted for the more-common “fractured” to describe the fairy tale story, the reader knows that “Twinderella” by Corey Rosen Schwartz is not your garden variety fairy tale.
There are two red-headed girls running down the steps leaving behind one glass slipper. And as the readers learn, Cinderella had a twin sister, Tinderella, who shared her miserable life. And because there were two of them, everything they had to do and everything they had was divided in half.
“Simpson’s Sheep Just Want to Sleep” by Bruce Arant is a fine picture book about animals as well as animal and human behaviors. Farmer Simpson is up at dawn working the farm and caring for the animals. But he has a problem — the sheep won’t wake up. He does everything he can think of to wake them. He bangs pots and pans, blows horns and pops balloons. Nothing wakes the sleepy sheep. Finally, the clever farmer has an idea. He goes to the rescue pound and adopts a puppy. He tells the puppy that he will be barking and waking up the sheep. But the puppy has a different idea. Sometimes, a gentle touch works when force does not. The language is lovely, the rhyme and meter fabulous. Perfect for sharing thoughts and morals about friendship and behavior. And for promoting the adoption of animals. (Peter Pauper Press)
