On the Other Side of the Forest

Amid all the bright colors and exclamation points in our picture-book section, you might overlook this lovely, but more subdued, item. Illustrated mostly in muted grays and browns, and featuring a rabbit father who labors to exhaustion toward his dream—building a tower of stones to see over the dark forest that surrounds their small community—it's a story that asks for a little patience. But the story it so modestly tells rewards that patience with a sense of beauty and kindness and, on its final page, a grand sense of mystery and wonder. (Ages 2 to 6)