Costanza Shows the Pitfalls of Being Selfish

Most of us are a little selfish from time to time. But it's not a quality we want to cultivate. In Joy Berry's Let's Talk About... Being Selfish, she provides a very simple primer for young children on the basics of unselfish behavior.

One of several books in this series, Being Selfish is unapologetically didactic. It's not so much a story as a series of examples. While the text presents the basic ideas, it's the illustrations by John Costanza that make the book interesting.

Costanza gives us three main characters here. There's a black-haired, burly, glowering girl who reminds me of Lucy Van Pelt; she is the model of selfish behavior and only gets six pages in this book, hoarding a pile of toys, chomping greedily on a candy bar, hollering at the hapless, scrawny blond boy who dares to request that she share the wealth.

This boy remains throughout the rest of the book to model unselfish behavior and show how much happier everyone is when there's conscientiousness and sharing involved. The recipient of his consideration is another girl, this one dark-skinned, over-all clad and easy-going. Also appearing periodically is the boy's tagalong dachshund.

The writing isn't particularly interesting; it reads like a Power Point presentation for the kindergarten set. The tone is rather condescending and preachy: "People who do not share their things with others are SELFISH. SELFISH people care only about themselves. They do not care about the thoughts and feelings of other people."

However, Berry provides some practical advice for sticky situations. She suggests putting away food if there is no way to divide it; if there is, one person should split the food in half and the other should choose which piece to take. She also allows for withholding items from those who might damage them, as long as they are kept out of sight.

The pictures are what will keep kids engaged with Being Selfish. With practical but whimsical illustrations complete with dialogue bubbles, Costanza drives home Berry's rather dry points. Children might not recall the definition the text provides, but chances are, they'll want to avoid turning out like that bully in the beginning. One way or another, then, they're likely to absorb the lesson and think twice the next time they are in a position to act selfish.