A playful picture book looks at punctuation and difference and finding joy in being one's self. Really! An exclamation mark hates standing out among all the periods. No matter how hard he tries to fit in, he can't. Then he meets someone who can't stop asking him questions. "What's your favorite ice cream? When's your birthday? Know any good jokes?" And on and on, until ... "Stop!" He didn't know he could speak with such force! He experiments. "Hi! ... Howdy! ... Wow! ... he discovered a world of endless possibilities." His new friend is impressed. "Isn't he something?" To which his old friends respond, "There was never any question in our minds." Amy Krouse Rosenthal's clever narrative is given perfect visual treatment by Tom Lichtenheld. The pages of the book appear to be children's blue-lined handwriting paper-the perfect tableau for the simple, expressive black-ink renderings of the characters. (Ages 7-10)