VIEWFINDER by Christine D.U. Chung gets a starred Shelf Awareness review

A young space explorer discovers the natural beauty of the abandoned Earth, left to grow untamed in this beautifully expressive, wordless picture book.

A pink-haired, round-faced astronaut steps from a small spaceship onto the deserted planet, greeted by swaying grass, a tall daisy, and the bright sun. The young space traveler, who has visited dozens of other worlds, is amazed to locate a viewfinder whose reel of sepia-toned photographs depicts the planet's past. A pseudo-treasure hunt commences in which the explorer sees the landmarks captured on the tiny transparent squares--an ungated zoo, a natural history museum, a bustling space station--each place now overrun by odd mushrooms. In this way, the final steps taken on Earth by the humans who left on spaceships are retraced, until the traveler loses the reel and instead enjoys the wonder of life still lived here.

Christine D.U. Chung's boundlessly imaginative drawings take on a surreal quality with Salwa Majoka's dreamlike use of color and light. The Toronto-based artists nestle a cosmic escape in an earthly setting. Their protagonist meets a shy rat, rambunctious monkeys, and a mother and baby giraffe, all with aquamarine fungi sprouting from their fur. Underwater, a crafty crab carries in its claws a ruby gem, disappearing into a dark submarine that opens onto a miniature galaxy of coral, anemones, and fish dotted with bioluminescent mushrooms. Viewfinder is a gorgeous, digitally sketched and painted picture book debut that welcomes the deeply curious to piece together a surprising and touching tale of what it means to find home.