Beautiful imagery and images abound in former U.S. poet laureate Ted Kooser’s latest book for young readers, which is illustrated by Ontario-born Jon Klassen.

A house stands in solitude on a wide expanse of lawn; the trees have been cut down to clear space for the structure, though they continue to stand in lush glory on the adjacent lots. A man lives in the house with his two children. He likes having a perfect lawn, so day after day he mows and plucks, maintaining its treeless state despite a constant barrage of seeds from the neighbouring forest, where his children delight in the shadowy spaces and sweet green fragrances.

Time passes and the occupants of the home grow older. The father continues his diligent care of the lawn until the children move out, and he decides to follow suit, placing the house up for sale. But no one wants to buy it. “[I]t just didn’t seem like a house where anybody wanted to live. This happens sometimes.”

Vacant, the house begins to fall apart and the trees take over, sprouting from the foundation and “making dark arcs on the fading paint” as they wave in the wind. Eventually the trees lift the house into the air, reclaiming the land that was once theirs. 

Kooser’s precise and evocative prose manages to balance weighty themes of aging, loss, and abandonment with a tone of hopefulness that has the reader cheering for the trees and taking comfort in the cyclical nature of life.

Klassen, who received high praise for I Want My Hat Back, his 2011 debut as author and illustrator, creates nuanced images using digital artwork and gouache. The result is both soothing and detailed, with a palette of muted browns, blues, greens, and ochres that captures the tone of the text perfectly. His use of changing perspective is especially impressive, as it shifts from a tree’s-eye view at the beginning to an upward glance at the lofty house as the book draws to a close.