#134 of 1001 · December 12, 2020

Think back to a time in your life when you were fully immersed in the world of imagination, when a single discovery could take on a life of its own and propel you into a marvelous faraway realm. This state of being permeates the landscape of The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer and Steve Johnson. Brian finds a salamander in the woods and brings it home to live with him. With this simple premise established, Mazer then devotes the entire rest of the text to an interchange between Brian and his mother: each time she reminds him of one of the salamander’s needs, he replies with a fanciful accommodation to turn his room into a forest. Johnson illustrates these changes quite literally, so that we see Brian’s mental picture of each change, with leaves and insects, ponds and trees, ferns and mushrooms, and an open-air roof to complete the wondrous transformation. #salamander #room #forest #nature #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks