Into The Forest by Anthony Browne

Into The Forest is another children's bok that makes very sparse use of text. Rather, the focus of the book and story seems to be mostly on the illustrations. The story itself is a bit disconcerting, and may be unsettling to some younger readers. A young boy wakes up one morning and his dad is gone. Interestingly, the boy's mother has no idea where his father is and doesn't seem to know when he'll be coming back. The boy then goes to take his sick grandma a piece of cake and is warned by his mother not to go into the forest. However, the boy decides to take the forest route anyway because it is quicker and he wants to be back at home in case his dad comes back. The forest illustrations are very interesting and the best part of the book. Throughout the forest scenes, only the boy is in color, while the forest and the characters he runs in to are in a stark black and white/charcoal. The ending of the book is encrouaging and a bit surprising. Overall I found the book to be interesting yet confusing at times. For example, there are some random characters in the forest that seem to have nothing to do with the narrative. I might recommend this book to older children looking for a challenging and intriguing read.