Stories for Growing
Cover of That Fruit Is Mine!Ages 3 to 7
Working together

That Fruit Is Mine!

Anuska Allepuz

Ages 3 to 7
About this age guidance

Kirkus: 3–7; Publishers Weekly: 3–5

The age tag follows Kirkus review. Other sources may suggest different ages. This is audience guidance, not an independent reading level.

Listed among picture books that encourage cooperation. The blogger describes the elephants’ failed attempts to get the fruit while the mice work together to get it.

Five elephants each want the same piece of fruit and each tries a solo plan that fails. Five mice quietly work together and reach it first. Watching them, the elephants combine their ideas and share the fruit as a team.

Good forWorking togetherSharing and taking turns

Recommended by Imagination Soup

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What children see in the story

The elephants fail when each tries alone, while the five mice succeed by working as one. The elephants then copy them and get fruit as a team. The elephants begin by shouting "Mine!" for the same fruit. By the end they bring it down together and eat it together.

Why it’s on these shelves

Working together
Each of the five elephants tries to reach the fruit alone and fails. Five tiny mice climb the tree as a team and get it, and when the elephants copy them, they finally bring fruit down too.
Sharing
The elephants start out shouting "Mine!" at the same piece of fruit. After watching the mice, they work together to bring fruit down and eat it side by side, cheering "Ours!"

Why pick it up?

The elephants adopt teamwork and eat the fruit together; one is still gliding through the air as a joke.

A note for parents

PW calls it a book with a clear message about cooperation and sharing and says the jokes keep it from becoming too didactic. The mice reach the fruit first and take it; the fruit belongs to no one in the story.

Where this recommendation comes from

Imagination Soup

Listed among picture books that encourage cooperation. The blogger describes the elephants’ failed attempts to get the fruit while the mice work together to get it.

Read Melissa Taylor’s recommendation
Sources and review status

We have checked source descriptions and drafted the value mapping. We have not personally reviewed the full book. The value labels, situation assignments, and parent notes remain provisional.

Publisher or literacy resource · Original recommendation

Our explanation of the value fit is separate from the original reviewer’s judgment. Their inclusion here does not imply an endorsement of Stories for Growing.

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