"I'm so small."
"Yes, but you make a huge difference."
The story begins when the Boy meets the Mole. After a polite "Hello" the illustration reveals just how much taller the Boy is than the Mole. The Boys picks up the Mole who immediately asserts the self-deprecating admission of his diminutive size. To which the boy responds, without actually knowing anything about the Mole, that his presence in the world matters to a degree far bigger than his physical size. This exchange sets the tone for the entire book. Conversations take place among the titular characters. They are simplistically constructed, but are endowed with greater philosophical context than the words indicate. The exchange also sets the stage for repetition of psychological support.
"Doing nothing with friends is never doing nothing, is it?"
This observation by the Boy can be said to an extent to be the message of the book. The book tells a story about the power of friendship and even the necessity. The characters in real life would certainly comprise a motley crew unlikely to form a bond of friendship, but within the fictional milieu of the story, they all find each other in need of each other. The Mole responds to this assertion with agreement of the sentiment. Just a few pages there will be a kind of addendum to this expression in which the Horse first notes that everyone get scared, but when friends are together, everyone is a little less scared. This is the message the book pounds home subtly through a mixture of text and illustration. It is a celebration of collaboration and a rejection of competition for the sake of personal gain or glory.
"Sometimes I want to say I love you all, but I find it difficult."
"Do you?"
"Yes, so I say something like I'm glad we are all here."
"Ok."
"I'm glad we are all here."
"We are glad you are here, too."
This exchange is another examination of the overriding thematic concern of friendship and support. The conversation is significant because of its relevance. Many people have trouble openly communicating their feelings through the direct language typically utilized for such purposes. The divergence of species among the characters mirrors the various cultural, ethnic, and national differences in the human world. Not everyone communicates in the same way or with the same words. That the mole is really saying "I love you" when he actually says he is glad they are all together is a very strong message to young readers suggesting that emotions and the language one learns to express those emotions are the necessarily identical.
