Others: A Story for All of Us

Yamada and Santoso firmly challenge assumptions about “others” in this picture book composed as a dialogue between two children. While one child struggles to relate to “the other people” who appear across a tall hedge, saying “They look different. They talk different. Everything about them is different,” a companion models an alternate approach, asking “They’re different? What do you mean? Do they have heads and bodies?” Abundant fine lines precisely shade scenes that envisage possible creaturely or mechanical “others,” then fellow humans. After the first figure refers to them as “the others. The ones from over there. They’re not from here,” the second child crosses the hedge to join a domestic scene, complicating the first child’s definition of here and there. When the pair predictably, but no less movingly, meet in the middle, the moment allows for a poignant realization about perspective-taking that’s bound to reverberate for readers. Protagonists are portrayed with pale skin; background figures are shown with various abilities and often fanciful skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)