This extraordinary children's picture book for young children is the work of three Japanese creative souls: Hatsue Nakawaki, the writer; Komako Sakai, the illustrator; and Yuki Kaneko, the translator of the original Japanese text. The simple but elegant story is conveyed by the attention and the wonder of a young child who reaches out for contact with a butterfly, a lizard, some pigeons, and two cats — all are unresponsive to human touch. The child's father immediately senses what the child wants and is totally present.
As we put ourselves into the story, we could not help feeling that the animals were right to avoid human contact given the history of their abuse, slaughter, and mistreatment. We await the moment when human respect for animals will open them to connections sought by this curious and caring child.
