Ribbit Rabbit by Candace Ryan, illustrated by Mike Lowery Ages 3-5 32 pages Walker Books February 2011 Hardcover     When best friends Bunny and Frog fight over a toy robot, it breaks in two. Neither will give up their part, so they have to resort to playing alone – and, as they soon find out, that is no fun. They sit on opposite sides of a towering pile of toys, eventually realizing that they miss each other’s company. To apologize, each wraps up their piece of the robot and presents it to the other as a gift. This book makes an enjoyable read-aloud. Short sentences end with the phrase “ribbit rabbit” and a second pair of rhyming words that describe the action on the page (”They fight monsters together. Ribbit Rabbit. Zip it, Zap it.”). These word pairs work well with the Beep Boop sound coming out of the robot. Lowery’s illustrations (rendered in pencil, traditional screen printing and print gocco and completed digitally) build on the close connection between the friends. Bunny and Frog wear matching blue bandanas around their necks. They eat peanut butter sandwiches the same way, and when they play, you can notice how they use their imagination to incorporate their love of robots into their activities. This story about sharing toys exemplifies admirable behaviors children could easily mimic.     web reviews   Tanya Boudreau/2011 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)