From the opening image of this intricate, nearly wordless book, readers see the animals--predator and prey together--moving toward safety. Thunderclouds pour rain down upon a valley where red barns stand in contrast to the green rolling hills.
Cutaway views reveal foxes nestling in dens below the road, as a family drives a red pickup hauling a flatbed of hay bales above. We follow the family past a silo, where a lightning bolt breaks a line carrying electricity. A caption tells readers that it's Saturday afternoon, July 15, at 12:15. Like a cameraman, Arthur Geisert (Country Road ABC; Ice) takes readers close up and also pans the valley to show the scope of the storm. Geisert's etchings fill in a rain so dense it feels as if we are looking out of a window at a deluge. Readers will pore over the many details included in cutaway views of the family's cupboards, walls and yards. The family also models safety measures. As they resume their hay bale deliveries and the storm gathers strength, they take cover under a stone bridge. By 6:15, the storm clears; the sun is out and neighbors are already gathering to repair the damage.
Geisert chronicles how quickly Nature can destroy, and also how rapidly humans rebound. His beautiful book is timeless. No matter how much technology we may develop, it can never compete with the power of nature, nor the power of a community to band together. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness