What the story does
a stranger at the water’s edge
1
It begins with a stranger
Capybara is new, large and unfamiliar. The story gives a child a safe, friendly way to meet someone very different.
2
It answers questions with questions
Nothing is explained away. Each page leaves an opening, so the wondering carries on past the illustration.
3
It ends in friendship
Different, and friends anyway. That is the whole lesson — and the book never once states it.
