Like many of Sleator's novels, Others See Us features a protagonist who is forced into conflict with other members of his family and whose own parents are overly-concerned with appearances.

For instance, Barney's parents in Interstellar Pig, like those of Jared, are classconscious snobs who care too much about what others think of them. In The Green Future of Tycho, the protagonist's siblings evidence some of Annelise's vindictiveness. Both of these books, much like Others See Us, are also concerned with the deceptive nature of appearances. Rivalry between relatives is the focus of Sleator's Fingers, in which eighteen-year-old Sam suffers from a lifelong jealousy of his brother Humphrey, a musical prodigy.

Telepathy, of course, is a common plot-device in science fiction novels and films. For example, the twins in Robert Heinlein's Time for the Stars (1956) develop the ability to read each others' minds. The television series...