We live in a world of interdependence where none of us can go it alone. We need the help of others and we rely upon them to supply us with what we need. It is important that children understand this way of the world. The Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn calls it "inter-being." Many educators do a good job teaching how dependent we are in the human realm but do not show us how it works the same way in our relationships with animals. Native Americans practiced this mutuality, but modern day men and women don’t seem to have much understanding of it.
Isabel Minhos Martins has created a delightful story about a boy and girl who call upon their pet lamb to give them all her wool so they can make warm clothes to wear in the winter. But realizing that their four-legged friend can't survive shorn of all her wool, they create a warm covering for the lamb.
Cross-species caring and concern is a theme that bears repeated mentioning in a time when many animals suffer in factory farms as a result of being treated as a commodity. This book is designed for children from three to six years of age.
