Erin Dealey

Hooray! Today is the Book Birthday of We All Belong,

by author & NYT Bestselling Illustrator Gianna Marino.

(Philomel)

About the Book:

In We All Belong, Gianna Marino celebrates our similarities and our differences while sharing a powerful message about community and friendship.

“Connection doesn’t require similarity, [and this picture book] slyly suggests this telling about finding belonging.” —Publishers Weekly

About the Author:

Some of you may remember Gianna Marino from our 2025 Book Birthday celebration of I Love You Little Horse –also from Philomel. Or perhaps you go father back to my Kidlit Pals Show and Tell blog series where Kidlit creators shared our Kindergarten experiences –and photos like little Gianna (above).

Gianna Marino says she “began drawing when I could hold a crayon. I drew all the time. As the years passed,” Marino says, “I added words to my stories.” Since then she has created beloved picture books, including Night Animals, Following Papa’s Song, We Will Live in this forest Again, and illustrated Don’t Let Them Disappear written by Chelsea Clinton.  When she is not wandering the world, she lives in Colorado with an assortment of dogs and horses.

Let’s ask some questions:

Inspiration

Q 1. What was the inspiration for WE ALL BELONG?

Gianna Marino: Every year my writers group (of over 25 years!) creates an assignment with a few words or phrases to choose from. We then have 2 weeks to complete a rough dummy.

There is not much time to overthink, so the stories we write are fresh and very different. I chose the prompt “two lives” and started sketching two characters: a mule and a rabbit. I thought of how they could be similar to each other (their long ears), and yet also very different (hooves vs paws, etc.).

I wanted to show that, even without similarities or differences, most of us want the same thing: acceptance, friendship, and community. It doesn’t matter whether we look alike or not. What matters is we are all here, on this planet together.

Trying to determine who someone is by what they look like or what they believe in doesn’t allow us to see them as an individual. But rather we put them in a box that is different from us. 

Process

Q 2. Did you start with sketches, illustrations, a story board, or the text?  

Gianna Marino: Because this was originally intended for my writers group assignment and had to be finished in two weeks, I did both the sketches and the text together. These initial sketches, however, are TINY! Approximately 2”x3” and somewhat hard to decipher! But it gets the idea rolling…

Typically, I go back and forth quite a bit between the art and words. The words say what the illustrations cannot and the illustrations show more depth than what the words say.

Q 3. Is there one thing you wish you could do differently when making a book?

Gianna Marino: When a new idea for a book comes into my mind, it is the one and only time I can see the story with fresh eyes. But, of course, it is not at all formed into a working story.

As the creative process for that story evolves and time is spent revising the text and the images, there is never a chance to see the book with fresh eyes.

I wish I could see my books like a new reader does, with no idea of what comes next.

Surprises and Discoveries

Q 4. What surprises or discoveries popped up while you were writing this book?

Gianna Marino: After I wrote the first draft, which had a much different ending than the final version, I thought about our quick assessment and judgement of others and what that outsider must feel.

One character in the story, the bear, doesn’t have any similarities to the other characters and feels rejected. Most of my stories come from real life experience and I realized, at that point in my life, that I was feeling like the bear.

Having recently moved to a new state, I felt like the outsider. Like I didn’t fit in. I got to write the ending I wanted for anyone who might feel like this.

Favorites

Q 5.  What is your favorite spread?

Gianna Marino: In choosing the layout and style of this story, I left a lot of white space in the illustrations. Most spreads are side views of the animals, comparing their likenesses. But I wanted the bear, the one who feels he doesn’t belong, to be different.

I did a closeup of his worried face, which fills the entire spread. The text from the previous page is a change in the story, when the animals stop their comparisons to say, “WHO IS THAT!”.

The reader knows, when they turn the page, they’ll see the one who doesn’t belong. Bear’s big, worried face stares back from a wordless spread.

Q 6. What are your favorite lines in the text?

Gianna Marino: What are my favorite lines?

“We may look different from each other,” said Mule.

“Yes,” said Bear. “But no matter what we look like…”

“We all belong.”

Take Aways

Q 7. What do you hope readers will take away from this heartfelt book?

Gianna Marino: I hope readers will think twice before thinking they can determine who someone is by just looking at them. Judging them by their looks, where they are from, or what they believe in.

I hope readers will learn to recognize when someone feels alone and left out, and make an effort to include them and welcome them. I hope there is less hate and more acceptance towards those who might seem different from us.

Endless thanks to Gianna Marino for joining us on the blog today!

To learn more about her work, check out her website: www.GiannaMarino.com

And follow her on Facebook: GiannaMarino

And Instagram: giannamarinobooks

Next up on the blog:

We chat with two-time Paralympic gold medalist Patty Cisneros Prevo about her new book:

All of Apolonia

illus. Mirelle Ortega

(Abrams)