The Rainforest Grew All Around

Imaginations will soar from the forest floor, up through the canopy and back down again, following the circle of life in this clever adaptation of the song ?The Green Grass Grew All Around.? The jungle comes alive as children learn about a wide variety of the animals (jaguars, emerald tree boas, leafcutter ants, sloths, poison dart frogs, toucans, and bats) and plants (kapok trees, liana vines, and bromeliads) living in the lush Amazon rainforest. Search each page to find rainforest bugs and butterflies hiding in the illustrations.

Susan K. Mitchell is an author with many hats in her collection: author, mom, wife, pre-school teacher and Spanish teacher. Susan loves creating a silly world of words for kids. Surrounded by kids all day, every day, Susan has no shortage of story ideas. While using the song, The Green Grass Grows All Around, in her preschool class, she saw the excitement her students had learning about life cycles in a fun medium. ôThey grew gigglier and more out of breath as the song grew longer and longer,ö Susan said of her students. Since the rainforest is one of the most complex ecosystems on our planet, she knew she could make it fun to learn about too. The lives in the Amazon rainforest are so intertwined that the song made a perfect background to teach children about the fragile circle of life. So she created a story that grew higher and higher, building on each plant and animal that resides in the endangered rainforest until the end becomes the beginning again! In addition to this book, Susan is the author of Stone Pizza, a picture book based on the Stone Soup tale. A member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Susan writes regularly for a variety of children's print and online magazines: Hopscotch Magazine for Girls, Boys' Quest, Wee Ones Magazine and Guideposts for Kids Online (GP4K). She also writes monthly for Houston magazine, Style & Living. Susan, her husband, two wonderful daughters, their dog, two new kittens, and a very cheeky beta fish live outside of Houston. She also really needs a bigger hat rack!