This extraordinary picture book is filled with fascinating facts about coast redwoods, but what makes it so special is the inventive artwork, which will engage even reluctant readers and children too young to understand the straightforward nonfiction text. A young boy waiting for the subway picks up a book left behind on a bench. As he reads the book, called Redwoods, his imagination goes to work, blending his world with the story of the magnificent trees. So, for example, when he learns that redwoods alive today first sprouted during the Roman Empire, the colorful, full-page illustration shows him seated on the subway between a Roman centurion and a toga-clad citizen. The boy’s fantastic adventure takes him--and readers--into a redwood forest and up into the treetops before he notes the time and runs off, leaving the magical book for another child to discover.