Item - Little Rabbit's Baby Sister

To the best of my knowledge, Marcia Leonard never published a gamebook outside of Your First Adventure. That's too bad; she had a knack for delivering insightful interactive stories in a very short space. In Little Rabbit's Baby Sister, you go outside one day to play with friends, but your mom wants you to take your sister along. An independent young rabbit like you, saddled with a sibling for the afternoon? This could keep you from having any fun. Will you take your baby sister outside and hope for the best, or stay in the house and forget about meeting your friends today?

If you go outside, you'll run into your friend Squirrel. He's disappointed that your sister is here...but aren't you surprised to find that Squirrel has a tag-along sibling, too! Possum has the same initial reaction as Squirrel, but he, also, has a sister in tow. The same is true for Raccoon. None of you escaped babysitting duty, but now you're all free to run and play together outside. It may be a worthwhile day after all. If you choose to stay inside with your sister at the start, you'll find that spending time with a little sibling can be a mixed bag. She accidentally sends the tower of blocks you're building crashing to the ground, but your sister also happens to find one of your favorite toys you thought was lost. Maybe she IS ready to join you and your friends for outside play. Your sister may surprise you.

As a young child, responsibilities can feel like burdens, as though you're being singled out unfairly. Whether it's having to go to school for hours every weekday, or being required to take a younger sibling along when you just want to cut loose and have a good time with friends, rules can feel stifling. But such concerns are mostly illusion: if you were the only one of your friends not to attend school or be asked to watch over a little brother or sister, you'd end up left out of a lot of the fun. You and your friends ALL have responsibilities that define daily life, and rather than see them as hardship, it's important to adapt to having fun within those perimeters. Little Rabbit's Baby Sister imparts this lesson with grace, wisdom, and a touch of humor.

I love Your First Adventure. It's the most consistent gamebook series I've read apart from Joe Dever's Lone Wolf, each story offering a fresh take on human nature that is relevant well beyond the toddler years. Karen Lee Schmidt's drawings for Little Rabbit's Baby Sister are lovely and classical, and the flap action also enhances the narrative. I am impressed.

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