Redwoods - Jason Chin

Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan),2009
$16.95
36 pages
Five Stars *****
Front endpapers:Gray bark of tree on left, boy sitting on subway bend, looking at book on right
Back endpapers: Gray bark with author's note

I want to go to northern California RIGHT NOW.

A few years ago, on my journey across the country seeking out a new locale for myself, I stopped in many National Parks, traveling down lots of "Blue Highways", coast to coast. I've been down the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway, driven across Texas, the Mojave Desert, Canada, and the midwest. I've traveled from Maine to Florida many times. And I must say that one of the most amazing, overpowering feelings I've ever had is while driving through the Redwood Forest. This book partially explains why.

With words of nonfiction and gorgeous illustrationss portraying a fictional story as well as an informational one, this book is completely entrancing. In other words, the textual part of the story is facts about the Redwood Forest. The visual part of the story is of a young boy discovering a book about the redwoods, and reading it on the subway. But as he reads, he actually goes to the forest, he checks out the cones, he climbs up to the crown, he discovers animals and other plants that live in the giant trees. We get a feel for their enormity - nothing in the world growns taller. Fascinating information given in an extremely interesting way. Pour over the lovely illustrations, where you certainly do see a story going on.

This is a fantastic book!

Some other websites/blogs with lots more information than I gave:
Jason Chin's Website for the book
Fuse #8 Production (School Library Journal)
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast