Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Twining the fantasy of an unfettered childhood adventure with the majestic reality of an ancient redwood forest, Fleming (Rock That Vote) and Groenink (Whales in the City) offer an outdoors variation on a classic children's rhyme: "This is the forest./ This is the steeple./ Giants and saplings/ and just a few people." As intrepid young hikers, portrayed with various skin tones, set off, the book orients vertically across the spreads to portray towering trees looming far above. Across gently textured digital illustrations, striking bird's- and worm's-eye perspectives follow the kids walking in cool, green shadows, marveling at dappled sunlight, and losing socks in a creek. When the kids emerge from a tunnel into a sun-drenched meadow, the book's orientation turns horizontal, adding to a sense of "the great open wide." With the setting of the sun, the children wave goodbye to what they consider "a forest of friends," and one youth even ardently embraces a redwood. It all reads as an expression of hope that curiosity and wonder can transform into stewardship and care. Ages 4--8. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (Aug.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1--This delectable picture book takes its inspiration from the "Here is the church" nursery rhyme and expands upon it wonderfully. Lapsitters or readers follow a group of children as they navigate through a forest, encountering trails and animals inspired to create games (a game of hopscotch using rocks is a personal favorite). The overwhelming joy of these children as they explore is contagious, supported by truly beautiful illustrations. With soft hues and various points of view, the illustrations bring readers even more deeply into the book. One of the truly show-stopping pages features a little boy looking up at the trees above him with the sun peeking through the trees. VERDICT This love letter to the great outdoors is one that every library should have in their collection.--Maria Graybosch
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Review by Horn Book Review
Two children head into the redwood forest for a hike. Along the way, they collect a few more friends and together discover the marvels of fallen logs, banana slugs, ferns, and towering trees. Inviting her readers in with the almost familiar phrase -- "This is the forest. / This is the steeple" -- Fleming goes on to describe the plants and animals of this sensory-rich adventure in lilting rhyming text. "This is a redwood. / Look how it soars, / surrounded by sorrel / crowding the floor." Through the tall, narrow book, redwood trunks fill the pages bleeding off the top and sides, helping to convey a sense of the trees' majesty. On other pages, smaller panel illustrations walk readers through the diversity of the forest: "That way an eagle. / This way a bug. / Fast like a falcon. / Slow like a slug." Groenink's cheerful, expansive digital illustrations convey both the wonder of the forest itself, with rich greens and shafts of sunlight, and the joy of the wide-eyed multiracial cast of children as they explore and play. This forest is a holy place, and children and their families should be inspired to go outside and look for themselves. Maeve Visser KnothSeptember/October 2025 p.40 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Come along on an adventure. "This is the forest. / This is the steeple. / Giants and saplings / and just a few people." While the verses at time sacrifice meaning for rhyme, their familiar cadence and mention ofsteeple will perhaps prompt readers to think of the outdoors as a church of sorts, and it's the pictures that are the true draw. The young hikers on the trail take everything in: the feel of the ferns, the bugs underfoot, a bed of sorrel to lie in under soaring redwoods, the sensation of cool water on hot feet, the rock path across a stream, seeds on the wind, the smell of bay laurel, and the view from a tree on the summit. Adult readers may cringe at the kids' unpreparedness, some of the risks they take, and the lack of grown-up supervision, but youngsters will be struck by the wonders found along the trail, brought home by the large trim size. Groenink's illustrations masterfully highlight the colors and shifting light of the outdoors: the filtered light of the forest, the green reflections of a mossy canyon, the dark of a tunnel, and the bright sunlight of an open summit. On their first reads, kids will likely focus on the young adventurers, but repeat readers will enjoy spying forest animals around, above, and below the racially diverse cast, which includes a child in hijab. Will surely whet children's appetites to get out and walk amid nature's steeples.(Picture book. 3-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
