“When I first came to live with my new mom, I was nervous.” The speaker in this picture book is a puppy, and the new mom a striped cat. Despite being animals, their strong feelings and realistic interactions are a spot-on portrayal of the emotional landscape of a young child entering a new family. The young narrator’s observations range from the novel (“I’d never had my own room before”), to the reassuring (“she takes care of me”), to the universal (“She does all the things that moms do—even the things that make me mad!”). When the puppy worries about looking different from the mom and paints on stripes to “fix it,” Mom gently washes them off and says she likes that the two of them are different. Acknowledging dark moments along with brighter times and recognizing that both child and parent are navigating new ground set the stage for honest conversations in all kinds of families in this comforting, reassuring picture book. Highly Commended, 2017 Charlotte Zolotow Award (Ages 3–8)