Starred Review ALA Booklist (Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2020)

Starred Review "We have always lived in this forest," begins the story. Initially, the birds and other creatures didn't notice the spark that flew into the dry treetops overhead, but once the flames took hold, smoke darkened the sky, the winds roared, and the frightened animals fled. Even the powerful mountain lion seemed fragile when threatened by fire. The story progresses in past tense until its turning point, when the animals have outrun the flames and narrative focus shifts away from the past, "The smoke was strong. / But we were stronger. / In time, our forest will return." With new shoots, bushes, and trees emerging, the animals will return as well. Marino's strong yet delicate paintings feature overlapping layers of luminous colors: tranquil blues and greens at the beginning, yellows and flaming reds when the fire takes hold, brownish grays and black afterwards, and in the future, greens and blues again. Creating a mood as well as telling a story, the writing is spare, precise, and evocative. In appended notes, Marino provides "Wildfire Facts" and discusses her experiences during the 2017 California wildfire that destroyed her barn but spared her house. Her experiences and reflections inspired this radiant picture book, which celebrates the resilience of nature.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

When wildfires rage in a California forest, animals flee; they can return when spring brings new growth.Inspired by her own experiences in the 2017 fires in California, Marino tells this story in the nostalgic but also hopeful voice of one of the forest-dwellers, a deer. The approaching fire comes as a surprise. "I used to think this forest would always be our home," the narrator says. The gentle foreshadowing works even for her young audience. An unnoticed spark becomes flames. The animals flee; even the mountain lion is not as fierce as the fire. The exhausted animals reach safety, clean themselves, and wait. Creatures that might not normally get along have banded together. Time passes. Eventually there are new leaves and shoots. The forest is returning, and so can they. In Marino's poetic text the leaves and branches that "crinkled and crunched" in the fall nicely contrast with the new growth that "will be soft and quiet' underfoot. In her illustrations, these animals are basically silhouettes with dark eyes and bodies textured by color and shadow. These double-page spreads have the translucence of watercolors and constantly change colors. The yellows and greens of the forest are overtaken by fiery reds and oranges, which turn to sooty gray, then warm brown with, finally, shoots of green. The deer is hopeful. "In time, our forest will return."Reassurance about the resilience of the natural world. (author's note, facts, further information) (Picture book. 3-7)

Horn Book

This timely and striking story of a forest wildfire is told from the point of view of a deer, who speaks for all the forest creatures. In lush, earth-toned gouache illustrations, we see creatures in their forest home. "We have always lived in this forest," the deer states. "I used to think this forest would always be our home." But one day a spark flies across dry trees; smoke appears; and flames grow. The sky grows dark, and in an alarming and unflinching spread, a small flame lands on the head of Mountain Lion. The animals, now merely red-hot silhouettes against a wall of flames, flee. Marino's driving text is filled with descriptive verbs -- the fire snaps and swallows -- and her taut sentences pack a punch: "The smoke was strong. But we were stronger." All the animals eventually return and see new shoots of green in the blackened forest, the powerful final line echoing the book's title. A closing note from Marino describes her own experience in the 2017 Northern California wildfires, seeing embers "the size of dinner plates." The appended "wildfire facts" answer questions for young readers about how wildfires start and spread and how wildlife responds. Lists for further reading and for learning more about wildfires are also appended.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

When wildfires rage in a California forest, animals flee; they can return when spring brings new growth.Inspired by her own experiences in the 2017 fires in California, Marino tells this story in the nostalgic but also hopeful voice of one of the forest-dwellers, a deer. The approaching fire comes as a surprise. "I used to think this forest would always be our home," the narrator says. The gentle foreshadowing works even for her young audience. An unnoticed spark becomes flames. The animals flee; even the mountain lion is not as fierce as the fire. The exhausted animals reach safety, clean themselves, and wait. Creatures that might not normally get along have banded together. Time passes. Eventually there are new leaves and shoots. The forest is returning, and so can they. In Marino's poetic text the leaves and branches that "crinkled and crunched" in the fall nicely contrast with the new growth that "will be soft and quiet' underfoot. In her illustrations, these animals are basically silhouettes with dark eyes and bodies textured by color and shadow. These double-page spreads have the translucence of watercolors and constantly change colors. The yellows and greens of the forest are overtaken by fiery reds and oranges, which turn to sooty gray, then warm brown with, finally, shoots of green. The deer is hopeful. "In time, our forest will return."Reassurance about the resilience of the natural world. (author's note, facts, further information) (Picture book. 3-7)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

-I used to think this forest/ would always be our home.// Until the day a spark flew/ across the dry treetops.- Written in the aftermath of Northern California-s devastating 2017 wildfires, Marino-s story poignantly describes a forest fire from the perspective of a deer living in the woodlands. Though -fire snapped at our fur and/ feathers and hooves and paws,/ swallowing our trees/ and blackening our sky,- the animals find safety, and when the fire goes out, they go back: -The smoke was strong.// But we were stronger.- As the pages turn, evocative gouache paintings silhouetting animals and tangled tree branches shift movingly in hue from green to orange to charred black, then to the cooling blue of rain and the green of new growth. The author-s afterword shares her experiences with wildfires alongside wildfire facts. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)