I fell in love with this book the first time I opened it up. First of all, it's beautiful. Second, it tells the story of a forest. When we meet the forest, it is parched and waiting for rain to come. But, instead of the soothing rain, the forest gets a lightning strike instead and there is a great, destructive fire. On each page, you see the story of a moment in the forest. Perhaps it's a woodpecker on a tree while a deermouse and her babies are down in the 'shadows.' You see all of the connections that exist in that moment in time. The author/illustrator highlights the 'forest characters' by placing them in an inset that emphasizes their presence there. What happened to all of these 'characters' when their forest is burning? How does the forest respond to the devastation? It's a story of beauty and resilience and recovery. At the end of the book, there's an explanation of a wilderness forest and 'how life returns to a forest after a fire.' For our children who are losing touch with nature, this is a great doorway to stirring curiosity and their own connection with our natural world.