The Forest That Grows Around Me

This richly illustrated concertina book takes the reader from below the forest floor, through shrubs, branches and leaves into the emergent layer, following a forest ecosystem from the base of a tree to its very top. Exploring a rainforest on one side of the concertina, and a temperate forest on the other side, The Forest That Grows Around Me celebrates the importance of forest ecosystems around the world.

A follow-up to The Street Beneath My Feet, The Skies Above My Eyes and The Sea Below My Toes, this visually stunning book explores the plants and animals that live at every layer of the forest in both tropical and temperate climates, from the fungal networks and burrows deep below the soil, to shrubs, bugs and mammals living on the forest floor, to the lizards, vines and beetles that call the trunk and branches home, all the way up to the birds that soar above the tree tops.

For example, on your journey, you will meet:

• Squirrels and chipmunks
• Black bears and bats
• Armadillos and sloths
• Green anacondas and hummingbirds
• Jaguars and spider monkeys

With a primary focus on the conservation of these important ecosystems The Forest That Grounds Around Me explores how these forest environments survive and thrive, and what we need to do to protect them. The beauty and variety of forest life are brought to life by Vuon Illustration’s rich illustrations.

This book is part of the Look Closer series, a set of concertina books that help teach us about the mysteries and wonders that are found in the world around us.

Charlotte Guillain lives in Oxfordshire, UK, with her husband and co-author Adam and their two children. She writes fiction and non-fiction for children, including the picture book Spaghetti with the Yeti, which was shortlisted for Oscar’s First Book Prize 2014 and has featured in CBeebies Bedtime Stories. Her first book in collaboration with illustrator Yuval Zommer, The Street Beneath My Feet, was shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2018 and named an ALSC Notable Children’s Book 2018 in the All Ages category, as well as being selected by the Guardian as one of 15 ’modern classics’. Charlotte and Yuval’s follow-up title, The Skies Above My Eyes, continues with the innovative concertina format of their first book, this time looking up at the sky and universe above us.

Vuon Illustration are a team of two Illustrators based in Saigon, Vietnam. They began their professional career by illustrating picture books and cover art for many local publishers. From 2018, they began illustrating children’s books with several publishers in China, Malaysia and Korea. Vuon means garden in Vietnamese.