Joined by other owners of unexpected pets-giraffes, armadillos, even a small narwhal in a bowl-they make their own club with its own sign: “All Are Welcome.” In her first picture book, Mantchev (Ticker) examines true friendship, sprinkling observations about the behavior of boy and elephant throughout (“He doesn’t like the cracks in the sidewalk much. “They don’t want us to play with them either,” she says. Heading home in the rain, the boy and his elephant spot a girl with her skunk. Having a tiny elephant for a pet sounds idyllic, but a boy discovers that the local Pet Club doesn’t allow them a stern girl points at a “Strictly No Elephants” sign.

Yoo’s concluding scenes depict a treehouse occupation (its restrictive message changed to “ALL ARE WELCOME”) and multiethnic, multispecies harmony.

“No, he doesn’t,” concurs the boy and then suggests, “What if we start our own club?” Observant children will spot a porcupine, penguin, and giraffe peering from brownstone windows along the way they and their children join others with equally exotic pets. Turns out that this girl-a pet skunk curled on her lap-has been turned away too. The Caucasian boy, his pet (in matching red scarves), and a little African-American girl in cornrows and a red-and-orange striped dress are the bright spots in this poignant tableau. That’s what friends do: lift each other over the cracks.” Embodying dejection after the two turn from that large, titular sign on the door, a double-page spread-a Photoshop-augmented linoleum block print-depicts a dark teal cityscape slashed with raindrops and bobbing with black umbrellas. No one else has an elephant.” His pet is shy of sidewalk cracks: “I always go back and help him over. The first-person narrative has a quiet, contemplative feel: “The trouble with having a tiny elephant for a pet is that you never quite fit in. After a little boy and his tiny elephant are barred from the Pet Club, they befriend other children with unusual pets.

Elephants are not birds brave books