WHERE THE FOREST MEETS THE SEA

From Australia, a picture book illustrated with photographs of relief collages, ingeniously constructed from many materials (including clay and preserved natural materials such as leaves, sand, and shells) to create a realistic, tactile effect. The story is simple: a boy and his father explore a seaside tropical forest (Australia's Daintree Rainforest), the boy seeing present-day wildlife, imagining animals and aborigines of the past, and finally wondering whether a return visit will find this primeval area intact or overrun by development. The imaginary forms--whether of prehistoric creatures of the future's threatened litter--are intriguingly transparent and evanescent in contrast to the present's vivid solidity. Unusual and beautiful, this serves well its admitted purpose of provoking thought on the vexed question of preservation of natural areas; Baker's young narrator has well conveyed their majesty and wonder.