The idea of the book is *spoiler alert!* that a little mouse finds a strawberry only to be told by the narrator of a Big Hungry Bear who wants the strawberry and that there is nothing the mouse can do to hide the strawberry or disguise it. The book has the narrator constantly telling the mouse that his plans to hide the strawberry from the Big Hungry Bear will never work and the only solution is to share the strawberry with the narrator. We never actually see this so-called "bear" in the book so we don't even know if it really exists.
After re-reading this short picture book I realized that there could be many hidden messages. Each character (or fruit) can represent many things. There is the narrator who scares the mouse and eventually gets the strawberry, there is the idea of what the strawberry could represent, and there is the Big Hungry Bear who we dont even know if it exists or not. Sadly, my first instinct when reading this again for secret messages was the government. There is the citizen mouse with his new money he has earned, being told by the government that he needs to share it (give taxes) or he will be hunted down. Now, I'm probably reading too much into it, but you never know.The book was most likely intended to teach children about the quailities of sharing but there is also a protectiveness. You need to protect what's yours. Or it might be taken away.
What do you think these characters (plus fruit) could represent? There are so many options and ideas that could be read into.
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