"Beautifully drawn nature scenes encourage deep visual exploration of different habitats as the land changes after an all-consuming fire." --Virginia Wildlife Magazine

"I like the cumulative way the story builds, adding one thing at a time to create a new forest where trees once stood. Succession is a process, and it happens bit by bit. Ginny tells a tale using rhyme and a familiar structure that kids will recognize. I like that it's told from the point of view of the forest, and that once the trees have grown tall, there's the realization that change is a constant in the environment. And I like the back matter, with a timeline of forest succession.

This books ends with actions kids can take to protect forests from fire and a warming climate. In her author's notes, Ginny admits that writing about fire when so many people have been affected is difficult. 'The long view reveals that they also give much back to the land that they have ravaged, ' she writes. She explains that the combination of fire suppression and climate change has contributed to the huge, catastrophic wildfires we've been seeing most recently." - Archimedes Notebook