This is a simple and beautiful picture book about life -- about growing from small to big, about traveling through bleak spaces, and about trusting life to bring beauty.

I love this picture book so very much. It made the perfect graduation gift for my daughter, who is a lover of all creatures, especially elephants, and a vegetarian. It was so much better than just giving her a graduation card. I hope she will save it to read to her children one day. ( )

Life is told from the perspectives of animals and covers the highs and the lows that we all will experience. The illustrations throughout are beautiful and really add to the mood of the story. The story sends the message that while life is not always easy and you will face hardships, it is still worth living and there is always something new and beautiful out there to experience. I just really loved this book and would recommend others to read. ( )

I really love reading this with my son, to give him the perspective on life, in many forms. To allow him to see life as not only the beauty but also there will be hardships, but you will make it through. Now i've read reviews where people have said that children don't need this reassurance but I completely disagree we need to teach our children before they stumble that it is okay to do so. I love this book because it shows my son, that we start little and grow big, that we have a world to protect and such small perspective with beautiful illustrations to do so. This author paints a beautiful picture. ( )

In my opinion, this is a great children's book. It is engaging through the illustrations and special book features as well as through its ability to relate to some children who may have insomnia. The illustrations enhanced the story so well as it was able to capture the loneliness and frustration of insomnia. For example, there was a page where there was just a pair of big black eyes, Chengdu’s eyes. These eyes were supposed to portray a sense of loneliness as Chengdu was the only animal who was unable to fall asleep at night. This page perfectly encapsulated Chengdu’s insomnia as the opened eyes were the only image that was seen as darkness surrounded the eyes. Another illustration that helped enhance the story was when Chengdu was resting on top of his brother Yuan. The rolled eyes of Yuan helped engage the readers as they could see themselves rolling their eyes if their siblings woke them up from their rest. It was very reflective of the text as the scene was about how Chengdu finally fell asleep only to wake up his brother Yuan. ( )