Good for you, good for me by Lorenz Lauli illustrated by Kathrin Scharer

By coincidence this is another book which has been translated into English.  The original title in German is Ich mit dir, du mit mir.  I have mentioned Gecko Press in previous posts - they bring brilliant books in other languages to our Australian and New Zealand children.

Good for you, good for me is a tricky story.  Bear is a warm-hearted character but he is also quite naive.  Dormouse keeps suggesting they swap - a cushion, a flute and a lucky pebble.  The odd thing is the swaps always seem to end up benefiting Dormouse and not Bear.  After a day filled with dancing and travelling Bear finally takes some time to review his day.

"Bear looked at the pebble and thought about all the things he and Dormouse had swapped.  He wondered what do I want with a cushion?  All is need is my warm, soft fur.  Do I really need a flute when I can whistle my songs instead? And what about this lucky pebble?  Luck seems to find me anyway."

He passes the pebble back to Dormouse.  The point scoring ends and in words reminiscent of Guess how much I love you they talk about all the lovely things they can give each other- moonlight on water, the scent of flowers, and all the colours at sunrise.

This book was another discovery in our school library. It has a gentle life philosophy,  It was published in 2009 and I think it would make a good addition to my read-a-loud choices for our new Kindergarten students next year.