From Publishers Weekly
A boy travels with his father to a tropical rain forest. Walking among the trees and vines, he imagines the forest as it might have been in the past, with now-extinct creatures and aboriginal children inhabiting it. How much longer, the boy wonders, will the forest remain? Baker's portrayal of unspoiled nature is both an eloquent plea for conservation and a visual tour de force. Her collage constructions have the life and intensity of photographs; at the same time, they embody the inscrutable magic and spirit of a primeval forest. Dinosaurs emerge, barely perceptible, from a tangle of trunks and vines; the faint outlines of an aboriginal child melt into a background of trees; and, in the final, haunting scene, the unspoiled vista readers have toured is overlaid with translucent images of civilization's worst trappings. An exquisitely wrought work with a simple, profound message. All ages. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
My father says there has been a forest here for over a hundred million years," Jeannie Baker's young protagonist tells us, and we follow him on a visit to this tropical rain forest in North Queensland, Australia.We walk with him among the ancient trees as he pretends it is a time long ago, when extinct and rare animals lived in the forest and aboriginal children played there. But for how much longer will the forest still be there, he wonders?Jeannie Baker's lifelike collage illustrations take the reader on an extraordinary visual journey to an exotic, primeval wilderness, which like so many others is now being threatened by civilization.


Card catalog description
On a camping trip in an Australian rain forest with his father, a young boy thinks about the history of the plant and animal life around him and wonders about their future.


About the Author
Jeannie Baker was born in England and now lives in Australia. She studied art and design in England. Her illustrations have appeared in various publications including Nova, The London Times, and The Sunday Times. She is the author-artist of Home in the Sky (an ALA Notable Book), and of several picture books published in England, including One Hungry Spider, Millicent, Grandmother, and Grandfather Since 1972, Ms. Baker has worked on her "collage constructions," many of which are designed to illustrate picture books but stand individually as works of art. They have been displayed in galleries in Australia and England, and the "collage constructions" for Home in the Sky were exhibited by Forum Gallery in New York City.

ANNOTATION

On a camping trip in an Australian rain forest with his father, a young boy thinks about the history of the plant and animal life around him and wonders about their future.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

My father says there has been a forest here for over a hundred million years, Jeannie Baker's young protagonist tells us, and we follow him on a visit to this tropical rain forest in North Queensland, Australia.We walk with him among the ancient trees as he pretends it is a time long ago, when extinct and rare animals lived in the forest and aboriginal children played there. But for how much longer will the forest still be there, he wonders?Jeannie Baker's lifelike collage illustrations take the reader on an extraordinary visual journey to an exotic, primeval wilderness, which like so many others is now being threatened by civilization.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly