Sunday, July 20, 2025

The Forest That Grows Around Me by Charlotte Guillain

Today's read heads out into nature and should teach kids a little about forests. I'm expecting animals and, maybe, even some plant goodness. I'm curious how this one works, since it only has a couple of pages and should illustrate the various layers a forest has.

So, let's see how this one works!




THE FOREST THAT GROWS AROUND ME
by Charlotte Guillain
Illustrated by Vuon Illustration
words & pictures
Picture Book
ages 4 to 8

COMING...
AUGUST 28th!!!



This richly illustrated concertina book takes the reader from below the forest floor, through shrubs, branches and leaves into the emergent layer, following a forest ecosystem from the base of a tree to its very top. Exploring a rainforest on one side of the concertina, and a temperate forest on the other side, The Forest That Grows Around Me celebrates the importance of forest ecosystems around the world.

A follow-up to The Street Beneath My FeetThe Skies Above My Eyes and The Sea Below My Toes, this visually stunning book explores the plants and animals that live at every layer of the forest in both tropical and temperate climates, from the fungal networks and burrows deep below the soil, to shrubs, bugs and mammals living on the forest floor, to the lizards, vines and beetles that call the trunk and branches home, all the way up to the birds that soar above the tree tops. 

For example, on your journey, you will find...

Squirrels and chipmunks
Black bears and bats
Armadillos and sloths
Green anacondas and hummingbirds
Jaguars and spider monkeys

With a primary focus on the conservation of these important ecosystems The Forest That Grounds Around Me explores how these forest environments survive and thrive, and what we need to do to protect them. The beauty and variety of forest life are brought to life by Vuon Illustration's rich illustrations. 

This book is part of the Look Closer series, a set of concertina books that help teach us about the mysteries and wonders that are found in the world around us.

GOODREADS    /      PUBLISHER 



MY TIDBITS


Unfolding into a vibrant display, this book shows forests in their layered majesty from the very bottom until the highest tops.

This books focuses on two different types of forest: tropical, rainforests and those found in more temperate climates. This only has a couple of pages but these fold out, section by section to stretch from the dirt all the way to the sky. Along the way, the layers are named and briefly explained, while the various life, which can be found in the level (plant, insect, fungi, animal) is showcased. The information is kept short to a sentence or two for each fact, and these are written in a more casual form to keep readers engaged. The word bubbles are placed throughout the illustrations, close to the topic they mention. As the reader goes from bottom to top (or top to bottom), they constantly unfold a new layer and array of information. 

Each detail in the illustrations is vibrant, full of life, and helps readers learn and identify, while offering a delight for the eyes. There are little details everywhere, but not enough to distract from the highlighted points. There's a large variety of life presented to show how many things live in the two types of forests. Some are well-known, while others will be new to most readers. It's not only fun to unfold the page and watch it grow, but it gives a good impression of the overall stretch and layers of the forest when fully extended. 

Not only is there a wealth of forest biology on the life end of things, but environmental issues are also lightly touched upon...but only briefly. 

This is a lovely way to introduce readers to the wonder of forests and would also work well in classrooms, for homeschoolers, or in other group settings.




And here they are...

Charlotte Guillain lives in Oxfordshire, UK, with her husband and co-author Adam and their two children. She writes fiction and non-fiction for children, including the picture book Spaghetti with the Yeti, which was shortlisted for Oscar’s First Book Prize 2014 and has featured in CBeebies Bedtime Stories. Her first book in collaboration with illustrator Yuval Zommer, The Street Beneath My Feet, was shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2018 and named an ALSC Notable Children’s Book 2018 in the All Ages category, as well as being selected by the Guardian as one of 15 ‘modern classics’. Charlotte and Yuval’s follow-up title, The Skies Above My Eyes, continues with the innovative concertina format of their first book, this time looking up at the sky and universe above us.

Vuon Illustration are a team of two Illustrators based in Saigon, Vietnam. They began their professional career by illustrating picture books and cover art for many local publishers. From 2018, they began illustrating children’s books with several publishers in China, Malaysia and Korea. Vuon means garden in Vietnamese. 

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