We All Belong

In the first half of this interpersonally interested picture book from Marino (I Love You, Little Horse), six animals of varying sizes encounter one another, focusing on what they have in common. A mule and rabbit bond over their long ears, the rabbit connects with a beaver around their teeth, and so on. “We are all similar in some ways,” Fox observes. When Bear arrives, the composition style, single-plane gouache landscapes sprinkled with wispy ferns and soft grasses, breaks into a single, almost startling close-up of Bear’s face. Similar he is not, as the other animals, gathered together on one side of the spread, point out, and Bear sadly wanders off, head down, to “find someone like him.” Seeing the impact of their insistence on comparison, the animals suddenly realize that they, too, are different from one another. While Mule and Rabbit may share long ears, Mule’s hooves “are nothing like Rabbit’s soft paws.” Bear, the animals at last acknowledge, has many wonderful qualities that make him a singular member of the group. Connection doesn’t require similarity, slyly suggests this telling about finding belonging. Ages 3–7. Agent: Deborah Warren, East West Literary. (Mar.)