Fair Shares

K-Gr 2–Goodhart attempts a child-friendly version of the distinction between equality and equity, using the hungry pair of Bear and Hare. Both animals discover a stand of pear trees; both animals fall short of reaching the fruit. When they each have a chair to climb on, Bear begins to pick and eat the pears, but Hare still can’t reach. A beetle passing through interrupts to explain why the equal distribution of chairs doesn’t produce an equitable result, since Hare requires more of a boost to reach the same branch. Once both animals commence happily munching, Bear realizes things still aren’t fair! Beetle doesn’t have a share. Beetle declines the pears and proceeds to devour the chairs. (How this impacts the fairness model remains unexplored.) Goodhart’s text has a repetitive rhythm without confining the story to a rigorous verse structure. The cheerful, naive illustrations—produced digitally with ink and pencil textures—feature red, yellow, and green pears, plus backgrounds abuzz with fluttery insects. Set against this vibrant milieu, Doherty creates an earthy resonance between black Bear, with a brown muzzle and paws, and brown Hare, sporting black-tipped ears.