Review by Booklist Review
This arresting tour through a Malaysian rain forest is most notable for its spectacular illustrations. Photorealistic scenes, created with pencil and oil paint, are dense with detail. Most appear in grayscale, but full color is also deployed, its impact all the greater for the contrast it creates with its monochrome counterparts. The first page sees a tiny, silhouetted adult and child about to enter the trees lining a river. Conversational writing in the first-person plural sets an inviting tone for armchair explorers, who will feel as if they are stepping into this tropical rain forest alongside the pair of hikers. At first, it seems as if there are very few animals residing there, but after the hikers pause to truly look and listen, a diverse world of plants and animals reveals itself. Giant hornbills, scurrying termites, a clouded leopard, a large flying fox, and towering tualang trees literally enter the picture, along with many other creatures (all identified in the robust back matter). A spirit of scientific inquiry and discovery imbues the text, as the narrator suggests readers join in the search for clues to questions like, where do the forest's young trees grow? Readers will absorb the fact-laden text with ease (an extensive discussion of seed dispersal via poop is riveting) and come away with a genuine appreciation of these unique habitats.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A stroll through a Malaysian rainforest, with a voluble tour guide to point out salient features. As in Jenkins and White's previous collaborations Ape (2007) and Can We Save The Tiger? (2011), the author writes as if he's casually talking off the top of his head, and the illustrator's photorealistic art completely steals the show. Identifying the locale as Taman Negara, the author glibly reels off all kinds of unseen but resident animals--including "sixty-six kinds of frogs (more or less)," "eighty kinds of bats (roughly)," and "goodness knows how many kinds of beetles (I certainly don't)"--describes a few sounds, and explains how tree seeds are spread through animal poop. That all of this is printed in a hair-fine typeface makes it even easier to ignore in favor of poring over full or three-quarter spread paintings, mostly monochrome, in which every twig and bug-eaten leaf is rendered with convincing exactitude, tree trunks viewed through misty, humid light soar up beyond the frames, and in close-up views, tropical insects and tiny frogs hide amid thick tangles of ground-level stems and fronds. Larger creatures, from hornbills and butterflies to an elephant and a prowling clouded leopard, appear, too, often in pictures that have been given subdued tints like old hand-colored photographs. The author closes with a note stating that this particular forest is protected but similar habitats elsewhere are in danger, and the illustrator provides a visual key at the end to the wildlife on display. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Amiable if generalized commentary paired with breathtaking visuals. (index, map, resource list) (Informational picture book. 7-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.