Through lyrical prose and stunning art, learn how one tree species thrives through fire.

One pine cone hangs in wait at the top of a tall lodgepole pine--for forty years it waits. But it watches as a small spark flickers into flame. It watches as the flames whip into a forest fire, sending animals fleeing. It watches as the flames grow higher and hotter--until the pine cone cracks open. As the fire cools and dies, the pine cone finally drops its seeds into the soil. Soil that has been made rich by the fire, warmed by the sun that can reach the forest floor once more. And from that destructive start, comes new life once more.

This poetic story introduces readers to one of the serotinous tree species that can only grow anew when the seeds face fire. Back matter includes additional information on forest fires and lodgepole pines.

Elisa Boxer is an Emmy and Murrow award winning journalist whose work has been featured in publications including The New York Times and Fast Company. She has reported for newspapers, magazines and TV stations, and has been working on this book ever since coming back home to Maine for her first job in television news in 1996. She is the author of numerous acclaimed nonfiction picture books, including The Voice That Won the Vote, and SPLASH!: Ethelda Bleibtrey Makes Waves of Change (a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection). Elisa lives in Maine and has more children’s books on the way.

Kevin and Kristen Howdeshell are a husband-and-wife illustrator duo. Their illustration work includes educational and editorial illustration, as well as children’s books. They live in Kansas City, Missouri.