This storybook explores the fundamental characteristics that differentiate living from nonliving things. It explains that living things possess seven essential properties: they are composed of organized living cells, require nutrients for energy, grow from small beginnings, respond to their environments, reproduce to create more of their kind, excrete waste products, and typically breathe oxygen. Through examples like animals and plants, the story illustrates how these properties manifest in various living beings and contrasts them with nonliving entities like computers and cars, which do not exhibit these characteristics.