Beatrice, a young girl of uncertain age, wakes up all alone in a tree house in the forest. How did she arrive in this cozy dwelling, stocked carefully with bookshelves and oatmeal accoutrements? And who has been leaving a trail of clues, composed in delicate purple handwriting?

So begins the adventure of a brave and resilient Black girl’s search for identity and healing in bestselling author Lawrence Hill’s middle-grade debut. Though Beatrice cannot recall how or why she arrived in the magical forest of Argilia – where every conceivable fish, bird, mammal and reptile coexist, and any creature with a beating heart can communicate with any other – something within tells her that beyond this forest is a family that is waiting anxiously for her return.

Just outside her treehouse door lives Beatrice’s most unlikely ally, the enormous and mercurial King Crocodile Croc Harry, who just may have a secret of his own. As they form an unusual truce and work toward their common goal, Beatrice and Croc Harry will learn more about their forest home than they ever could have imagined. And what they learn about themselves may destroy Beatrice’s chances of returning home forever.

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Owl’s Nest Books (Calgary) | Calgary Public Library

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• Black like ‘Beatrice’ — Hamilton’s Lawrence Hill aces first children’s book. –The Hamilton Spectator
• Author Lawrence Hill swims in the children’s book waters with his children as an inspiration. –The Globe and Mail