In Mine!, a nearly wordless picture book by Shutta Crum and Patrice Barton, two small children and a puppy try learning to share. The story begins on the end papers, as two adults, unseen from the waist up, bring the little ones, a baby who does not yet walk and a slightly older toddler, to a pile of toys, inviting them to play together. The dog sits scratching his ear beside his water bowl a short distance away. Though there is a lot of action to come, everything involved in the story appears in this very first image, which sets us up for the scenes that follow.
After the title page, the older child begins staking her claim on the toys. "Mine, mine, mine," she says, as she snatches up each of them. The baby and the dog each get a hold on something, though, and begin to wreak havoc. While the dog chews a ball, the baby throws a star-fish shaped stuffed toy across the room into the dog's water dish. The toddler is upset at first, but changes her tune quickly when she realizes the fun of dumping all the toys in the dog dish. By the end of the story, both kids are soaked, as are the toys, but they have become friends and learned that sharing doubles the fun of a playdate.
I think the great thing about this book is that kids who can talk can tell the entire story themselves, without any help from an adult. Everything they see in the illustrations is something they can likely name, and the story is something they can relate to, so it would be easy for them to put their own words to the pictures. The facial expressions and body movements of both the children in the story also make for some laugh out loud funny moments, and really portray all the mischief and movement of little kids on the go.