Horace by Holly Keller

32 p., Greenwillow, 1991. When you're adopted, it can be confusing to look different from your parents. Horace is a leopard who has been adopted into a tiger family. Although his mother tells him daily that she and his father chose him, and like his spots, he doesn't always grasp the full meaning of this. Horace's cousins come to his birthday party, and they're all tigers. Horace feels sad because he experiences himself as different and "wrong." After dreaming of being someplace where everyone looked like him, he decides to look for that place. While visiting a carnival, he meets a family of leopards and enjoys playing with them. But he starts to miss his Mama and Papa, and trusting his instincts, he decides to go home. His parents welcome him, and he decides that he chooses them, too. Illustrated with charming ink-and-watercolor paintings that are exuberant without being overstimulating, this story offers empathy to adopted children who don't look like their families and understanding that family connection goes beyond appearance. Ages 4-7