Goin' NUTS! I Want That Nut! by Madeline Valentine

Mouse and Chipmunk are pals who happily play and share together all the time Until when one day they are startled by a loud. . .

KER-PLUNK!

And when they investigate, they see...

. . . a NUT! A BIG, BEAUTIFUL NUT!

Mouse and Chipmunk look at that perfect fat acorn. Both want it. But they try to be generous.

Chipmunk says Mouse should have it. Mouse says Chipmunk should have it. After this goes on for a couple of rounds, Mouse admits that he did see it first, but Chipmunk takes Nut and heads home.

Now the twosome is Chipmunk and Nut. Chipmunk reads story books, the kind with lots of pictures, to Nut. They cloud-watch together. They sleep together. Mouse, on the other hand, is alone and jealous. And he wants that nut! When Chipmunk flaunts his ownership and invites him to tea with him and Nut, Mouse arrives promptly, wearing a festive bowtie. He seems congenial, but he is only waiting for his moment!

"THIS IS LOVELY," SAYS MOUSE.

"OUR PLEASURE," SAYS CHIPMUNK," GESTURING TOWARD NUT, SEATED AT A PLACE AT THE TABLE.

"LOOK! A DINOSAUR!" SHOUTS MOUSE."

Now Mouse has taken possession of The Nut. He plays Tic-Tac-Toe with Nut, dances with Nut, and naps with Nut, but Chipmunk is not done. Disguised in mustache, fur stole and high heels, he claims to be the judge of the World's Most Beautiful Nut Contest and dashes off with Nut.

Mouse has had it with his one-time friend and the two square off at each other, each claiming ownership of Nut, until... they hear a new voice.

"ACTUALLY, IT'S MINE! THANK YOU FOR FINDING MY NUT!"

It's Squirrel who claims full ownership of Nut and has the bulk to enforce possession.

Mouse and Chipmunk agree that the whole thing had gotten totally out of hand, in Madeline Valentine's charming little parable of greed grown all out of proportion, I Want That Nut! (Alfred A. Knopf). Friendship wins out over acorn lust, with the help of a domineering squirrel claiming precedence of possession, in this comical and adorable story for preschool and primary students. As Mark Twain observed in Tom Sawyer about whitewashing a fence: To make something desirable, you must first make it hard to get!

Easy enough for emerging readers, page-plotted perfectly by author Valentine to set off her comic illustrations, and with its varying font size and speech balloons, this is a versatile picture book for reading aloud or as a beginning reader. Says School Library Journal, "Expertly drawn and designed to keep the action moving as tails fly off the page.