What is that? As a tiny shoot unfurls, two damselflies peer at it in wonder. When the plant grows taller and sprouts leaves, some young beetles arrive to gander, and soon they wrangle a ladder and build a tree fort. But this is the wild world, after all, and something horrible is waiting to swoop down, only to be carried off in turn.

With exquisitely detailed illustrations and tragicomic flair, Carson Ellis invites readers to imagine the dramatic possibilities to be found in even the humblest backyard.