Antonio Willie Giroux lived in a hotel his mother ran on the edge of a lake. He loved to explore the woods and look for animals, but they always remained hidden away. One hot, dry summer, when Antonio was almost five, disaster struck: a fire rushed through the forest. Everyone ran to the lake - the only safe place in town - and stood knee-deep in water as they watched the fire. Then, slowly, animals emerged from their forest home and joined the people in the water. Miraculously, the hotel did not burn down, and the animals rebuilt their homes in the forest - but Antonio never forgot the time when he watched the distance between people and animals disappear.

 

There are 40 pages in this book. This book was published 2015 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc .

Rebecca Bond grew up in Peacham, Vermont. When she is not having fun painting and writing, she is busy fixing up her old house in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston and spending time with her two young children. She is the author of several picture books and has illustrated one chapter book, The Mysterious Woods of Whistle Root .