I read this on a Kindle, but I think it's definitely one that needs to be read in a physical book. The kindle just doesn't do it justice. But even in that form it's gorgeous; the words have a fantastic rhythm, and the pictures are amazing, glowing and lush. The detail is brilliant.

This is a lovely book and I can't wait to see it in real life.


Receiving an ARC did not alter my review in any way.

With whimsical illustrations and a catchy rhyming scheme, this is a perfect storybook for children and their parents. It's the story of how the trees and plants came into a town, bringing along woodland creatures, and beautified the once dreary concrete city.

Goodreads Rating: 4 stars

On my first readthrough, I read this as a story with a post-apocalyptic bent. The plants and animals all take a front seat in the illustrations and the way that nature starts to make its way into town--moss and other plants emerge through cracks in the sidewalk--just screams nature taking back its place in a deserted city.

But this is not a deserted city, rather it's one that's densely populated, and nature comes to visit by taking advantage of all cracks and fountains and statues that lend themselves to nests and perches. Essentially, it's about how nature is everywhere, even in harsh "natureless" places such as cities, and that animals and plants can adapt and exploit the man-made surroundings to their needs (having just read Darwin Comes to Town, I couldn't help but draw many parallels between the two books' focus on urban evolution/adaptation).

It encourages kids to learn to look for nature everywhere, not just in the wild countrysides and forests, but in their own backyards or balconies. And any book that encourages this is one that I'm a fan of!

The illustrations were also very lovely, using a combination of colorful flowers and plants and monotone blue and black scenes to convey the dusk-into-nighttime setting of most of the story.

Lovely tale of the forest returning to reclaim the city as it's own. Live long enough, in some places, and you too can watch it's slow return! I think this would be a wonderful story to read with a grandchild. It would even be lovelier to talk a walk with an older grandchild and show them how an area has begun to revert after reading the story. I liked the illustrations, too