FROM PARK TO PLAYA

Come along on a hike!

Connecting the city to the sea, the 13-mile Park to Playa nature trail winds through various L.A. neighborhoods, all the way to the Pacific Ocean. A family sets out on the trail for a day filled with fun. The young unnamed narrator celebrates a birthday party, complete with a piñata. Then the family hikes, eats fresh fruit from vendors, takes a bike ride, and enjoys an evening beachside bonfire. In an author’s note, Beckerman emphasizes that nature can be found all around, even in “the densest urban city,” and this story is a testament to that fact. The narrator gazes at a desert cottontail, which hops by as a helicopter flies past. A kestrel “swoops in a circle, riding warm wind,” against a backdrop of buildings and trees. And, as day turns to night, a sparkling pier dazzles over calm ocean waves. Beckerman and Diao demonstrate that the roads we choose to take connect us both to the Earth and to each other. Every page underscores the fact that joy and discovery are to be found in the seemingly mundane. Heavily textured illustrations brim with a diversity of plants and animals. Characters are racially diverse.

An immersive, much-needed reminder that nature is all around us, if we only look.