Your Forest

Starred review from November 4, 2024
In this playful board book, publishing alongside two others in the Your Places series, Caldecott Medalist Klassen positions familiar elements of a forest landscape against a blank white backdrop, offering each piece to the reader like a gift. The components sport the creator’s characteristic illustrated eyes, and on the first page, a yellow half-circle peeks over the horizon: “This is your sun. It is coming up for you.” Four pine trees look out from another spread: “These are your trees. They can go over by the sun.” A page turn moves them all to the verso, while a small dwelling appears on the recto: “This is your cabin. It can go in the trees.” More elements materialize—rocks (“Not too many though”), a ghost (“He only comes out at night”), and others—until the scene, in the manner of a felt board tableau, is complete: “This is your forest. Now it is done.” As the sun goes down and the objects close their eyes, readers are invited to “sleep too and think about what you will do there tomorrow.” Lulling rhythms, interactive language, and repeating words soothe and amuse, giving readers a place to envision themselves and return to whenever they like. Publishing simultaneously: Your Farm and Your Island. Ages 2–5. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.