We Will Live in This Forest Again

“I used to think this forest/ would always be our home.// Until the day a spark flew/ across the dry treetops.” Written in the aftermath of Northern California’s devastating 2017 wildfires, Marino’s story poignantly describes a forest fire from the perspective of a deer living in the woodlands. Though “fire snapped at our fur and/ feathers and hooves and paws,/ swallowing our trees/ and blackening our sky,” the animals find safety, and when the fire goes out, they go back: “The smoke was strong.// But we were stronger.” As the pages turn, evocative gouache paintings silhouetting animals and tangled tree branches shift movingly in hue from green to orange to charred black, then to the cooling blue of rain and the green of new growth. The author’s afterword shares her experiences with wildfires alongside wildfire facts. Ages 4–8. [em](Oct.) [/em]