I Hear You, Mountains

PreS-Gr 2–A group of four hikes a mountain. Along the way, they talk to nature—the birds, the trees, the waterfall—and nature responds in onomatopoeic sounds. The group comprises one adult and three children of different ages and ethnicities. It is unclear how they know each other. It is also unclear who the narrator is, but the artwork is smartly composed in a way that suggests any of the four characters could be narrating this relaxing nature journey. Some of the onomatopoeia is a stretch—does a pinecone go “plip plip”? The text is straightforward, usually two sentences, a sound effect, and the repeated refrain, “I hear you.” Strangely, the narrator says “I [heart emoji] you, mountains” replacing “love” with a small black heart icon; no symbols are used anywhere else in the text. The group doesn’t have much of a survival instinct; one child hears snoring and approaches a hole that the child thinks might be a bear’s den. Still, their journey is not about wilderness survival but nature appreciation. Engaging scenes of nature appear in colored pencil and gouache.