THE RESCUES BEST DAY EVER

Stressful new adventures provide opportunities for three rescue pets to comfort and support each other.

A series of tersely told episodes that are spread out over the pages in easily digestible bits follow an adorable trio: a cat named Tiger and two dogs named Moose and Bear. The pets accompany their brown-skinned human, Cathy, to a new place (the vet’s), where they are painlessly “poked, squeezed, and checked,” then later fret when Cathy goes out without them—but finally enjoy a group cuddle when she comes back. In between, Tiger and Bear squabble over a favorite chair at naptime until Moose urges them to share, and a thunderstorm becomes less scary when Bear tells the other two that the “alien elephants” outside are afraid of moose and tigers. In Pate’s luminous, freely brushed illustrations, the feelings of the very young-looking animals are patent on their expressive faces at each moment, and the authors, too, help out less analytical readers by having their characters both sum up the accumulated lessons explicitly (“Moose taught us how to share!”) and respond to Cathy’s closing “How was everyone’s day?” with a silent but fervent “It was the best day ever. Just like every day.”

Sweet, low-key lessons in togetherness.