The Jungle

A 2018 CBC Hot Off the Press selection

"With beautiful, clear language, Helen Borten takes children through a single day deep within the Guatemalan rain forest in a reissue of her 1968 picture book, The Jungle ... Matte paper whispers under the fingers as the pages turn to show layered prints and etchings of monkeys and ferns; of the armadillo and the jaguar. 'Under the leafy roof, it is dim and still,' Ms. Borten writes. 'Time seems to have stopped in a wild summer world of long, long ago. Thick vines hang from trees like ropes.' The evocative description of natural things in a natural setting brings to mind the cadences of Robert McCloskey’s beloved 1957 picture book, 'Time of Wonder.' With their patient pacing and a sense of quiet reverence, both are books to savor with children ages 3-9."—Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Wall Street Journal

In a hot land near the equator, a new day is beginning. Out of the morning mist a vast ocean of leaves appears. It is the roof of the jungle. What lies beneath—the varied teeming life of animals and plants—is vividly portrayed through the cycle of day and night in the jungle world. The narrative follows the sunrise-to-sunrise inner workings of a jungle, featuring stunning, layered descriptions of the smallest happenings, like the tune-up of an insect orchestra, and more boisterous, sudden events, like the rogue afternoon thunderstorm. Author and Illustrator Helen Borten artfully moves between simultaneous actions with great delicacy, and what results is a full impression of each moment in the jungle. The text is informational, yet intimate. Her illustrations skillfully render both the hot and cool colors of the jungle, juxtaposed against bold and black, stamp-like forms of the terrain’s flora and fauna. The images are vibrant, beautifully complimenting a story that inspires a sense of reverence and wonder at the natural world. Considered Borten’s masterpiece by many iconoclasts, The Jungle was inspired by a trip to Guatemala in 1967, when few others were going there, let alone a woman, to seek out images and stories to share with children back in the US.

Born in Philadelphia in 1930, Helen Borten attended the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and produced the main body of her children's picture books in the 1960s―books for which she received high praise, awards, and much love.