• Age: 4 to 8
• Grade: p to 3

Explore a forest with a curious classroom in this breathtaking new picture book by the author of the beloved More Than Words, and experience the essential beauty of diversity in humanity and nature.
Joy and her peers are eager to visit a nearby forest for a class trip. But Joy's excitement quickly turns into anxiety when she is asked to choose one thing in the area for a school assignment.
Seeing her classmates connecting with the natural environment, Joy discovers how each of their choices reflect the ways they relate to and interact with the world.
Together, a Forest begins as an exciting journey into nature and blossoms into a meditation on how our unique personalities and ways of being help create a more vibrant and beautiful world. The forest reveals that everyone—including those of us with disabilities and neurodivergence—belong to nature. There is no one right way for a mind, body, or person to be.
Perfect for classrooms and home libraries with accessible social-emotional and STEM themes, this picture book highlights the importance of interdependence, inclusion and celebrating diversity in our communities.

Roz MacLean lives in beautiful Vancouver, BC where she balances her writing and illustration practice with supporting students with diverse needs at school. Roz is passionate about mental health, education, body positivity, self-compassion and inclusion of people with diverse abilities. These values are a constant theme in her creative work, embodied most vibrantly in her newest release, "The Body Book." As an educator, she believes that positive cultural change begins on an individual and emotional level with early education. When children learn to relate to themselves and their bodies with self-acceptance, love and care they will be better able to maintain positive mental and physical health as they navigate our society's problematic media landscape. Other children's books she has illustrated include Lucy's Tree, written by Helen Davidson, and Mommy's 26 Careers by Keegan Connor Tracy. Along with Violet's Cloudy Day, which Roz wrote and illustrated, these books explore socially conscious themes of connection to nature, feminism and the cultivation of positive mental health.

Roz MacLean's profile page