EVERYONE STARTS SMALL

Small becomes spectacular.

From the beginning of this exquisite book, text and art meld to demonstrate that all life starts out insignificant, then remarkably explodes into breathtaking magnificence. “Everyone starts small / and then grows. / Sun grows beams / And Grass grows blades / and Cloud cannot contain herself. / Then things really get going. / Everyone sprouts and bursts / and hatches and spreads. / Especially Tree.” The book centers on the tree’s “pretty incredible” interconnectedness with other life forces, such as Water, Grass, Sun, Bug, and Berry. They “rise and ripen, too.” Occasionally intruding upon this idyllic landscape comes powerful Wind, which can do damage to Tree, as can the searing heat of Sun. Then, joining ruinous forces, Wind and Sun wreak violent havoc on Tree and other life forms. After Fire erupts, “there’s not a thing in the world / anyone can say to that.” When Rain eventually saves the day, Tree is thankful, and Fire concedes that it’s tired. Once Fire’s extinguished, “Half the world…lies down to sleep… / But Soil holds on… / and everyone stays like that for a long while.” Miraculously, following the devastation, the Earth renews itself, and new lives arise again, rife with fabulous potential. The text is simple and simply lovely, expressing in a clear, comprehensible way how intertwined everything in nature is. The beautiful, eye-popping digital illustrations are lushly textured.

Transcendent and brimming with the promise of life’s renewal.