So, spoilers, I cried upon finishing this book.
The autobiographical story is, in my opinion, very moving and compelling, even though the text is wordier than most traditional picturebooks.


CaTia Chien's artwork engages in such a brilliantly executed dance with Alan Rabinowitz's text. Her illustrations shift from cartoon-y to stylized to impressionistic to a combination of all three plus some, which not only highlight Alan's maturation but also mirror the emotional themes present in the text. Her portrayals of wide, sweeping landscapes, rendered in similarly characterized brushstrokes, combined with the small, framed illustrations inserted into the full-bleed spreads aptly and skillfully juxtapose the intense personal bond Alan has with the animals he studies and the greater beauty of--and dangers within--sublime nature.


The final spread and subsequent page turn are breathtakingly striking, due to the abundance of negative space that emphasizes the connection between the human and the animal. Cue tears.


The book designer also earns a well-deserved pat on the back; the color and placement of the font only ever seamlessly blends with the art and the emotional immediacy of the text. See the double page spread where Alan views himself as vocally fractured, staring out a window that takes up the full two pages for one of the best examples of text orientation.


All in all, a gorgeous read.