In this gentle story that celebrates natural diversity, neurodiversity, and disabilities, a child named Joy is excited about her class field trip to a forest. She gets anxious, however, when the teacher says they each have to pick one thing they are drawn to in the forest for an art project.
The book then shows each of the children as they explore in search of their item, using their individual approaches and ways of sensing and communicating. Hakim, for example, zigzags through the forest as his mind zigzags between new discoveries. Sasha pauses with her white cane and listens to the bird calls, wondering what they mean. Akash feels like the flowing stream, with big emotions that sometimes crash or overflow. Diwa hums and flutters her hands (which readers may recognize as forms of stimming) as she watches the waterfall and fluttering ferns. Adam “makes sense of the world in a slower rhythm,” like the slow-growing cedar. Alex, who “never wants to stop moving,” uses they/them pronouns.
These children and others continue to sense, feel, and explore. Then, just as Joy finds the thing she is drawn to, she falls into the stream—but her classmates are there to help and support her, each in their own way. The book concludes with Joy reflecting on how her classmates are like the ecosystem of the forest, and how much they all depend on each other.
Author/illustrator Roz MacLean has created a lovely and affirming book that treats differences as beautiful and necessary variety, with no “norm” from which they are judged. The children’s different ways of approaching the world aren’t just accepted; they are part of what makes the ecosystem of the classroom work. MacLean’s lush illustrations immerse readers in the forest world, adding to the impact of this highly recommended title.
Joy is White; the teacher has tan skin and wears a hijab. The other students reflect a range of racial/ethnic identities.
