The Night the Forest Came to Town

The art is beautiful. There are curious animals and observant children who see them.  There are both swirls and hard edges from mother nature, and in the man made shapes of the urban landscape. The juxtaposition of the steely city night and in the unraveling vibrant colors of the natural world woven in and exposed in the morning, is human ecology at its core.  Readers will appreciate the diversity of characters and the beautiful details that make every person in the book unlike everybody else. 

Every page of text could stand alone as a poem. So fluent and powerful and complete. At the same time, when you read the complete book, it reveals a narrative that serves the title well. Lines like, "In the hallowed hush of twilight" or "In the evening late one summer when the concrete was still warm" offer opportunities to visualize beyond the illustrations. There are interesting verbs and descriptive vocabulary throughout the book. The science fans will love the access to seamless lessons about ecosystems and habitats...

"In the fountain by the city square
the beaver built a dam
that changed the fountain to a pond
where fish and tadpoles swam"