(1) YA Translated by Rosie Hedger. Beasts have invaded thirteen-year-old Abdi’s homeland. With their hoofed feet, long arms, slender hands, and razor-sharp claws, the beasts pursue and kill every living creature. The government has collapsed; there’s no electricity; supermarkets are empty. What’s even worse is the way people have turned against one another, fighting for survival. When their mother is killed, Abdi flees through open ­country with his little sister, hoping to reach the coast and find a boat to take them overseas to their father. Bjerkeland’s propulsive tale is sleek and elegant, a subtle blend of fable and realism that increasingly reflects many of today’s desperate refugees’ experiences. Every sentence is direct and brief, vivid with eventfulness, uncertainty, and Abdi’s deep sense of responsibility for his sister. Even moments of rest and relative safety—the pleasure of food or the solace of finding one trustworthy adult—are highly charged. “I missed grown-ups,” Abdi laments, and in these few words Bjerkeland evokes the failed adult world, the injustice that plays itself out on children. The story’s brevity and abrupt forcefulness, and the characters’ stalwart courage and love, make this tale unusually compelling.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(2) K-3 The life of an oak tree is beautifully depicted in this engaging informational picture book. It begins with a simple yet profound concept: "A blue jay drops an acorn, and a tree's life begins." The narrative follows the acorn as it grows into a sapling, matures into a towering tree, and becomes a vital part of a forest ecosystem -- providing shelter, food, and resources to birds, insects, and mammals for more than two centuries. It produces acorns, but the text details reasons they don't necessarily grow into new oak trees. It also effectively depicts the effects of changes over time in the tree's environment, and of human development, as the forest gives way to a town. Cole's detailed, fine-lined pen-and-ink illustrations bring depth and life to the natural elements on each spread. With intricate layers, and endless details to pore over (find the camouflaged creatures!), the black-and-white art complements the minimal text, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the beauty of nature. The text strikes a balance between storytelling and information, educating readers about the oak tree's role in its ecosystem. The back matter provides helpful resources, such as steps to create an ecosystem and a diagram of forest habitat layers.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Sydney Smith. Caldecott winner Floca and Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Smith team up to create a magnificent, timeless tale of two young children on an adventure close to home. An intense storm is approaching. "Now take my hand / and we'll go see / the sea before the storm," begins Floca's rhythmic and expressive text. The children bundle up and head to the cove, where they witness the waves smashing and exploding on the shore and ask themselves, "Is this enough, or do we try for more?" The intrepid explorers continue, in what becomes the text's refrain: "You pull on me, I pull on you, and we decide to go on." They walk through town, "eerie and empty." A "BOOM" and pelting rain send them running through cold, dark woods for home. "Home! / Home to relief, and to love." The storm passes during the night, and the next day dawns. "Now the day is bright and blue, / and the view across the water is long. / And you and I go on." Floca's writing is pure poetry; Smith's expressionistic watercolor and gouache illustrations are utterly gorgeous; and themes of adventure and home, sibling closeness, and the majesty of nature are expertly conveyed.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Evan Turk. This cento (a poem composed of passages from other writers) pays reverent tribute to the natural world, weaving together the words of poets such as Emily Dickinson, Mary Oliver, Philip Larkin, Harriett Annie Wilkins, and many more. As Hall's closing author's note explains, she began crafting these lines early in the COVID-19 pandemic, wandering the woods and recalling "the words of poets whose works I had studied in my school days." The book opens with echoes of Edward Thomas and Robert Frost: "Into the forest, dark and deep / With miles to go before I sleep." Sarojini Naidu's "Here, O my heart" melds with David Wagoner's "The forest breathes. Listen," becoming: "Here, O my heart, just listen!" Hall's mastery of rhythm and flow is mesmerizing, transforming the borrowed words into a cohesive and enchanting experience that stands on its own before readers encounter the back matter's guide to "The Poets and the Lines They Wrote." Turk's color-saturated, light-infused illustrations bring the book-length poem to life, portraying a child with a walking stick navigating woods teeming with bears, beavers, wolves, fawns, and other creatures. Lost momentarily in the "pathless woods," the child finds solace as the leaves "speak bliss to me." A striking palette of teals, coppers, purples, and midnight blues immerses readers in this enchanting exploration of nature and verse.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) 4-6 Clare the fox lives, so to speak, in Deadwood Forest: “Like Clare, the forest was not quite dead but not quite alive.” He struggles with self-consciousness about his mangled ear and missing eye (the result of the accident that sent him to the forest), but for the most part follows a quiet routine as the Afterlife’s Usher of souls, tending his mushroom garden, reading books scavenged from Deadwood Dump, and making tea for himself and the wandering animal souls that knock on his cottage door. Mostly, the souls are easy to guide into one of the Afterlife’s four realms: Peace, Pleasure, Progress, or Pain. Then badger Gingersnipes, who doesn’t appear to belong to any realm, arrives just as Clare hears of an ominous premonition. Clare embarks on a quest to understand the meaning of the premonition and help Gingersnipes find her way. He engages in some surprising (to him) self-reflection and learns about love—for himself and others—as he travels through neighboring forests with his companion. Between chapters, detailed black-and-white drawings (by Marcin Minor) reminiscent of woodcuts highlight key characters and scenes to come. Though some of the book’s messages are a bit on the nose, ultimately the dry humor, an amusingly intrusive narrator, and a touch of nostalgia intertwine to create an endearingly strange snapshot of a cottage-core world caught between life, death, and the afterlife.

Reviewer: Monica de los Reyes | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Dan Yaccarino. In this rollicking riff on the famous folktale, a human family named Goldilocks (Mr. Goldilocks, Mrs. Goldilocks, and young Goldie) goes on a camping trip in the woods. When the three decide to take a hike before eating their freshly made s'mores, Bear arrives. With apt pacing, Horne adds a comical spin to the classic story's structure: Bear does not like the first s'more ("too gooey") or the second ("too chocolaty") but still devours them after savoring the "just right" third one. Is he satisfied? No way. He gulps down their beans, bread, and hot sauce, packaging and all. Bear then tests out the family's musical instruments, accidentally destroying them, and after further destruction falls asleep in Goldie's tent. Yaccarino employs his signature crisp, bold artistic style to humorous effect when showing the expressive bear wreaking havoc. When the Goldilocks family returns and discovers the damage, Bear's parents also turn up and apologize for their cub's behavior, wishing to make amends and asking the humans to their house to eat their porridge, sit in their chairs, and sleep in their beds (but the people, who "did not speak Bear," hear only growls). A clever fractured fairy tale packed with visual jokes and surprising narrative twists. A link to the National Park Service's advice about bear safety is included.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(2) K-3 This wordless picture book creatively and thoughtfully explores the life cycle of a pencil from tree to drawing implement. The story starts on a blank page with a pencil being sharpened. As the pages turn, the shavings morph into leaves, which sprout into an elaborate forest appropriately rendered with colored pencils and markers in bright colors and intricate lines. Readers looking closely will be able to find a range of birds and other forest animals hidden among the trees. Dramatic page layouts on stark white backgrounds heighten the tension when the trees are cut down, expelling the birds from their homes. Color also plays an important role in the story's unfolding as the vivid colors of the logs from the forest overtake the leaden shades of black, white, and gray of the city and factory, where the wood will become colored pencils. The art returns to full color when a child purchases one of the pencils in an art supply store and uses it to draw the forest back to life. The story poses meaningful questions about the origins of everyday objects and the sacrifices they require to produce, but the creative visual exploration leaves room for delight and inspiration as well. The book closes with well-considered prompts for deepening the experience of reading a wordless book.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(1) PS "This is your sun. It is coming up for you." Thus begins each of three original board books, accompanied by an image of the sun peeking up over an implied horizon line. Subsequent spreads introduce, one by one, other characteristic features you'd find on a Farm (barn, horse), in a Forest (cabin, stream), or on an Island (palm tree, boat) and add them to the scenes. "These are your plants. They can go on the ground." The basic-shaped objects accumulate on mainly white backgrounds; once the settings are fully created, the day concludes, and each book ends with the line: "Now you can sleep too and think about what you will do there tomorrow." A simple premise, but with subtle depth cleverly provided by Klassen. His minimalist style is on full display, from the brief, straightforward texts ("Here is your truck. It is a good truck. It can go in the barn too") to the sparsely populated pages. Of course, Klassen also infuses life and character into each object in the ink and graphite illustrations by giving them expressive eyes, which close at night when the farm, forest, and island go to sleep. Additional imaginative elements include a ghost in Forest and a magical fire that never goes out in Island. The whole process mimics and encourages a toddler's drawing activity, adding things to negative space to create art that tells a child-friendly story. In short, Klassen has crafted three unassuming master classes in picture-book making for the youngest listeners/viewers. Review covers these spring 2025 titles: Your Farm, Your Forest, and Your Island.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Elke Boschinger. Pendreigh outlines the critical role that a tree plays in its ecosystem, both when it’s alive and upright and after it dies and has fallen. Spare, poetic text emulates the thrum of the forest: “Years pass. / Sapsuckers drill, / hidey-holes fill, / bear cubs rub / and claw.” Standing for years, the tree offers shade and resting places for birds and some mammals. Then, after roots weaken and soil lets loose (“crassshhhh!”), the tree takes on a new use as a nurse log, nurturing the forest in other ways. A collection of earth-bound creatures finds “a place to grow, / to rest, / to shelter.” Even as her bark de-cays, the nurse log continues to provide nutrients to bolster new trees growing atop her; she sustains a cycle of life until the next tree can do the same. Boschinger’s detailed digital illustrations amplify the lushness of a diverse forest biome. Back matter follows a question-and-answer format, offering readers more to learn about the roles of nurse logs in their respective environments.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(1) 1-3 Illustrated by Emily Hughes. Fans of Atinuke's beloved chapter-book series know that Anna Hibiscus "lives in Africa. Amazing Africa" and Too-Small Tola "lives in Lagos, unbelievable Lagos." Now we meet protagonist Beti, who lives with her mother, father, and baby brother in a "little round house in the green woods under the mountains," with no running water or cellphones but with friendly farm animals and close friends and good neighbors nearby. In four brief sections, each set during a different season, readers follow this lively child's small-scale adventures. The book opens in spring, on Beti's birthday, with party preparations, including helping Mam bake a cake and then foraging for flowers to decorate it ("and pick some salad too!" says her father). She refuses to wear a party dress; her friends arrive; her birthday gift is...unexpected, as is her reaction to it. Beti is a classic Atinuke protagonist, with her age-appropriate highs and lows; her individuality and three-dimensionality; her moods, mischief, and creative problem-solving. The setting is painted through homey, specific details in the text and in Hughes's (illustrator of the Charlie & Mouse early readers, among others) frequent spry, eye-pleasing illustrations, a mix of black-and-white and color, spot art and full-bleed section openers. Atinuke's introductory note describes living in Wales in "a roundhouse built of straw and clay in the woods. It was a life of magic, and of mud," both on display in this engaging and memorable chapter book.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman. "LOOK AT IT. Wounded, worn, twisted, torn. / One day this tree will fall / and this story will end. / Won't it?" So begins this Pacific Northwest set saga of one tree surviving when other giants around it don't. There are so many ways the tree might not have stood. From the very beginning, other seeds landed on bare rock and didn't live, or dropped into a stream, or were eaten. But this tree thrived, despite wind, drought, ice, and fire. And not only survived. "This tree flourished. This tree aged" and became its own ecosystem, "a world / of miniature forests / meadows / rivers / seas... / of silken death traps / and venomous fangs, / of bright, begging mouths / and fluttering wings." Lively, poetic writing and beautiful illustrations in a rich palette, which emphasize unique angles and close-up images of the tree's denizens, combine for a volume perfect for reading aloud, and not only in science classes. Even the youngest of readers and listeners will grasp the concepts of ecosystems and the continuity of life. A model of what an excellent STEM-focused picture book can be in its effective interplay of text and illustrations. Appended is a discussion of the science behind a tree's life, death, and life after death.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) YA Sisters Riley and Sam help their uncle run his museum of dark folklore and unexplained disappearances next to spooky Voynich Woods. One day, Sam flees into the woods to escape a rude tourist; Riley goes after her and is murdered. But magically endowed Madelyn, who lives in the woods with her abusive Mother, finds Riley's grave under the creepy "Wishing Tree" and brings her back, albeit with a hole in her chest filled with a "black, half-solid ooze." While Riley returns home and tries to hide the change death has wrought in her, Madelyn begins to learn what (or who) has been fueling the tree, which gives Mother her power. This compelling novel features many horror staples freshly woven together: a partially decayed, drowned ghost girl who can travel anywhere water flows and who helps Riley and Madelyn; a voracious tree with a hunger for vengeance; a man created by Mother, stuffed with "twisted, rusted nails," who helps with her grisly business; and a nineteenth-century family tragedy with long coattails in the present. Less common in the horror genre but welcome here are a blossoming romance between Riley and Madelyn and a feminist message of ownership over one's own body, something Madelyn has never known, so that by the end of this harrowing tale, Cipri -- and readers -- have earned the hopeful ending.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) 4-6 Henry Lightfoot has always been the "earthworm" to her father's "social butterfly," more interested in making art at home than joining him on far-reaching adventures. But after he wanders out of Quinvandel Forest on her twelfth birthday -- the same forest into which he'd disappeared exactly one year earlier -- she ventures into the woods to determine where he had been and prove her bravery. Henry quickly finds herself in a Neverland-like realm referred to as simply "This Place" by its inhabitants, who are all lost beings trying to find their way back. Cole revels in developing the delightfully arbitrary rules of This Place (e.g., no one needs food to survive, and a native berry makes human-animal communication possible). Meanwhile, equally strange yet increasingly sinister occurrences are indicative of a new mysterious instability to which Henry, along with fellow lost children Wolfson and Ndidi, must discover a solution. "Home is the best North Star," writes Henry's father, a man whose initial charm Cole gradually complicates, causing Henry to acknowledge his more callous traits. Home may be no paradise for Henry, Wolfson, or Ndidi, but Cole contends that only through embracing where they are from -- and who they resolve to become -- will they find guidance, safety, and healing from literal and figurative loss.

Reviewer: Ed Spicer | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(2) K-3 From a red cabin in a forest, the young protagonist calls for her dog. "Peppermint! Where is that pesky pup? I'm going out to look for Peppermint! You come too." In the panel-style illustrations that follow, the girl takes readers on a tour of her favorite features of the forest, while the cagey Peppermint comments from a circle inset on each spread. When there are reminiscences (about the time, for instance, when Peppermint came home with a snout full of porcupine quills), the action appears as childlike drawings in the girl's sketchbook (Peppermint: "Maybe not my finest hour"). A mix of the informative and the homey, the narration encompasses elements of history and geology (how millennia earlier, glaciers dropped erratic boulders), botany, zoology (the time a coyote chased them home and they later returned to find its den), and folk wisdom (how to make a whistle out of an acorn cupule), in a visually inviting and intellectually stimulating way. When the naughty Peppermint is at last reunited with her owner, they're rewarded with one of the girl's life-list ambitions: the sight of an elusive fisher regarding them silently from high in a tree. The back matter includes a note from the author about his home and a map showing the Adirondack Mountains, sidebars about porcupines and fishers, and a list of "a few good forest books."

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) K-3 Gay found inspiration for this winning story from reading about the residents of a Dutch city who transformed their streets into a "walking forest" by wheeling trees about in wooden containers. In this fictionalized telling, city girl Lily visits the woods and finds herself so enamored with trees that she asks her father for one for her birthday. She names her leafy new friend George. Gay deftly employs various shades of green in her playful mixed-media illustrations, which reflect the loving connection between child and tree. The tale takes an entertaining turn when Lily decides to show George the world beyond their tiny balcony. Lily pulls George about in a wagon and discovers that the tree provides shade and comfort to the people she meets along the way. Two boys tease her initially but learn that being in George's shadow keeps their Popsicles from melting. They ask for trees of their own, and treemania spreads as other residents follow suit. Gay captures the joy of a diverse urban community bonding over nature that brings beauty to their locale and lives. The finale depicts people enjoying a park scene filled with trees of many colors and shapes before bringing the narrative back to Lily and George and a triumphant hug.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) PS Black Bear is lonely and sets out into the forest to find a friend. When he runs into Brown Bear, also in search of a pal, they join forces. They look everywhere, but "it was difficult to find a friend." They decide to practice their observation skills by playing hide-and-seek, enjoying themselves and the game immensely. But then Brown Bear hides so well that Black Bear can't find him, and he worries that he has lost Brown Bear forever. When the two are reunited, they finally realize that they have found a friend in each other and set off together happily, paw in paw. Horácek's mixed-media illustrations in rich forest-y colors bring out the bears' sweet, naive personalities and capture their varying emotions as the day unfolds. Young readers will of course catch on long before the protagonists do that the extended friend-search is unnecessary, but that superior knowledge (and the bears' cluelessness) is part of the story's appeal.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) 4-6 In this gorgeous graphic novel with minimal text, it's an ordinary day as Poppy takes her dog, Pepper, out for a walk, all the while listening to music, scrolling mindlessly through her cell phone. Pepper, spotting a fox, breaks free and runs off into the woods, unplugging Poppy from the digital world and immersing her in the natural one. They encounter another child, who is fully engrossed in the woodland life around them. Poppy returns to the woods the next day, and the day after that. Nature walks become routine, and Poppy begins to notice the birds, plants, and sounds all around. She tells her mom -- who, in grieving her own mother's death, can't seem to get off the couch -- about her adventures when she gets home. The illustrations ("drawn in Biro, painted using inks and tweaked in Photoshop") portray nature in moody sepia tones that challenge viewers to use their imaginations to fill the pages with color. In the first chapter, the text asks: "What does the wild speak?" This question is explored throughout the story, and Kurimoto's detailed illustrations capture the essence of a walk through the woods; depictions of flora and fauna bring the sounds of the woods (including the wild "morning chorus") and movements of new buds to life, along with the layered emotions that nature can evoke. Readers are reminded that in an increasingly connected digital world, reconnecting with the natural world just outside of our doors can provide joy and healing.

Reviewer: Gabi K. Huesca | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(3) K-3 When a mischief of mice goes missing, a scurry of squirrels decides to investigate, with varying amounts of help from other animal groups, including a cauldron of bats and a prickle of porcupines (really!). Luckily, a sleuth of bears shows up to solve the mystery. The unusual collective nouns, introduced in loosely rhyming text, are charming; cozy watercolor illustrations depict a wintry forest setting at night. Back matter gives additional facts about the referenced animals.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Kerns

(2) K-3 A chaotic household tries to reset by heading out for a forest hike. It's hard to enjoy the serenity of nature, though, when no one will help Mom, Grandpa keeps telling old "worn-out" stories, toddler Willa won't stop fussing, and dog Oni is all worked up. Least cooperative of all is older sibling Smudge, who stubbornly responds to Mom's request for good behavior, "Absolutely I will NOT!" Smudge continues to complain while wandering off -- only to get the entire family lost. Pray depicts the group's less-united moments with empathy instead of judgment and gives Smudge the opportunity to make amends for earlier transgressions by using memories of the day's rocky start ("And here! The berries I threw!") as landmarks to guide them out of the woods. "Maybe being lost together makes us sort of found, too," muses Smudge. Pray uses watercolor inks and colored pencils to contrast the family members' frazzled disconnect from one another with the beauty of the outdoors; the jewel-tone foliage becomes more vibrant and defined as the family grows closer. An ultimately cozy portrayal of a day that begins as memorable for the wrong reasons, only to end with Smudge's loved ones learning to find their way -- together.

Reviewer: Ed Spicer | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by E. K. Belsher. This fantasy follows eleven-year-old Anne Applebaum as she discovers that her favorite book is actually real. Anne’s mother introduced her to the book and to the idea that Anne was supposed to have a twin; but now her mother has died, and Anne is left alone with her withdrawn father. In her grief, Anne leaves home and encounters magical creatures that guide her to the mythical land of Bei Ilai and to her twin brother, Rainer. After battles with witches, monsters, and prophetesses, the twins defeat the evil witch and make their family whole again. The story mentions Anne’s Jewish identity frequently and generously borrows imagery from Jewish folklore (as well as from traditional tales). The mashup of inspirations and styles, and the story’s complicated organization are occasionally confusing. Final black-and-white illustrations unseen.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth