THIS IS THE FOREST

by Edith Thacher Hurd ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1969

Each little animal has its place in the forest. The birds and the insects, each has its place in the forest of pine trees."" In these literary (i.e. semi-poetic) and ecological terms, the death and rebirth of a pine forest are depicted. Felled by fire, it rises again in soil readied by a slow process of decay and burrowing and scattering, of living and dying, until first one and then many pine seeds take root. While a sense of continuity and interdependence is conveyed, the particulars don't stand out--largely because the ""moles and shrews. . . spiders and ants, tumblebugs and doodlebugs, slugs, snails and little gray sow bugs,"" towhees and thrushes, the brown creeper and the red-headed woodpecker and the others mentioned by name can't be distinguished in the fuzzy illustrations. And the lyricism dissipates attention at the same time the pictures fail to reward it. The photographic close-ups and clear captions of Once There Was a Tree (1968, p. 398, J-146) cover the subject much more effectively.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward-McCann

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION