Sam and Emma

A kind hound and a critical cat venture beyond their garden gate for a look at how other animals live in this winsome tale, which is charmingly illustrated by Edward Gorey. Emma the cat scorns the lunch offered by a trio of friendly beavers and laughs in the faces of a pair of porcupines, much to Sam the dog's consternation.
Along come a couple of raccoons. Emma allows that they resemble cats, so they're not ugly, but decries their nocturnal habits. "Not even a dog would live like that," she declares — and now she's insulted long-suffering Sam, too. She didn't mean him, of course. Sam offers his feline friend a more balanced perspective and a gently irresistible appeal for tolerance, bringing this thought-provoking fable of friendship to a warm conclusion.
"I loved the message of the book and the illustrations drove it home. It is a perfect conversation starter regarding manners, etiquette, kindness, and tolerance. I highly recommend it." — Storywraps

Indiana native Donald Nelsen has lived and worked in New York City for more than 50 years. In 1959 he was awarded a Fulbright grant to study painting in Paris, and upon his return to the United States he joined a design studio and began creating textile and wallpaper designs as well as painted wood carvings of everyday objects. Several of his oil paintings are on display at the Brooklyn Historical Society.
American author and artist Edward Gorey (1925–2000) combined whimsy and dark humor in such illustrated books as The Haunted Tea-Cosy, The Hapless Child, and The Fatal Lozenge. His distinctive style, featuring characters in Victorian dress in surrealistic settings, achieved wide recognition with his opening-sequence animation for the PBS Mystery! series.