Cheese Belongs to You!

Booklist (December 1, 2013 (Vol. 110, No. 7))

Rat law is simple: if you find the cheese, then it belongs to you. Unless someone bigger, quicker, hairier, or scarier wants it—then the cheese belongs to them. If all the other rats exhaust themselves fighting over the cheese, then the cheese belongs to a kind rat who is willing to share. The text starts slowly and then builds on itself, until readers are left breathless after each long sentence. The illustrations clearly show how each rat is different and more terrifying than the last and are sure to produce squeals of fright and delight from readers. Surprisingly, there is a great lesson about sharing tucked neatly into the last pages, which gives this silly story a little extra heart. For a storytime that is sure to leave the librarian breathless, pair with There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, by Simms Taback (1997). Any way that a young reader experiences this book, whether during individual reading or in a group, this will be fun.