In a soft voice, Mario asks, ‘why do we cry?’ His mum thinks for a moment, and then begins to tell him about the many reasons for our tears. We cry because our sadness is so huge it must escape from our bodies. Because we don’t understand the world, and our tears go in search of an answer. Because we can’t find the right words, and our tears speak a universal language. Most important, she tells him, we cry because we feel like crying. And, as she shows him then, sometimes we feel like crying for joy. To extend the concepts in the story, back matter describes the physical aspects and benefits of tears and provides two activities.