It's What We Do! People Share with People by Lisa Wheeler

It's good to share a window,
It's fun to share a ball.
It's best to share a cupcake
BEFORE you eat it all.

On the face of it, sharing what you have leaves you with less--right?

But the wisdom of the ages bends the other way--toward sharing--because humans, a long-lived species, have long since figured out that over time cooperation and sharing provide MORE for ALL. Sharing begins with parent and child, and families seem to have built-in belief that early sharing means more for all in the long run. Life in large societies requires that people share-- or suffer.

Of course, there are some things you shouldn't share... Keep your sneeze, PLEASE!

It's normal for youngsters to have trouble with the concept that sharing now means that someone in the future will do the same for you, and in noted author Lisa Wheeler's and Caldecott artist Molly Idle's People Share with People (The People Books) (Atheneum Books, 2019) the two creators share their considerable picture book skills to show young readers how it's done, especially in the case of playthings like balls that provide more fun when used by two, not one.

We DON'T live in a zoo!
I CHOOSE to share with you!

Of course, even most wild animals share, finding safety in numbers--family, pride, or herd--and although it's a hard lesson to teach toddlers, Wheeler and Idle's newest, with Wheeler's rhyming lines and Idle's engaging rotund tots, is a great way to understand the historical meaning of shared resources. Says Booklist, ..."this book demonstrates that learning social skills can be fun!"