A week after his dad’s death, a Black boy opens the envelope his dad left him and finds a map marked with a red X. He’s reluctant to visit the woods, a place that has always been theirs together, alone, but he finds unexpected comfort in familiar sights as he follows the path laid out by his dad. The woods are alive with wildlife: a garter snake, a magnificent eagle, a nest of young grouse. The map leads the boy to “a lonely brick fireplace,” the only remnant of an old structure, where he finds a metal box with drawings of woodland animals tucked inside. There are poems, too, each about a different animal and most ending with a question, as if unfinished. The boy sees a signature and a date—his dad’s name! He drew these when he was only the boy’s age. Finally, the boy finds a note. “Finish my stories, or not / but this last page is for you, Son. / Draw and write your own story. / I’ll always be watching.” Feeling lighter, with tears and a smile on his face, the boy heads home, “but in no particular hurry. Dad knew I needed / this walk in the woods.” Told in vivid, eloquent verse, Grimes’s tender story is accompanied by drawings begun by Jerry Pinkney and completed with warm, swirling strokes of paint by Brian, his son, after Jerry passed away. (Ages 6-10)