Old Beaver and the other animals watch in horror as their tranquil mountain valley is invaded by a greedy developer. The animals try to stop the demolition, building barricades that are swept away by the bulldozers. A little girl watching the TV news mounts a protest as well, but to no effect, so she wishes on the first night star for something to save the forest. All seems lost until a mysterious bolt of lightning flashes out from the weird red rock that towers over the valley and strikes Old Beaver’s dam, giving him incredible superpowers. Old Beaver is able to stop the developer from destroying the valley, and somehow the red rock is able to emit bolts of lightning that replant and reseed the earth.

Tomio Nitto’s The Red Rock is a powerful and deeply moving environmental fable told in a friendly cartoon-like style that’s inspired by animé. Even as we witness the valley’s destruction, Nitto is careful to keep the sensibilities of his young audience in mind – he has the animals cover their eyes and peek through their paws when the bulldozer demolishes their barricades, and he renders the illustrations in gentle colours – soft reddish browns and muted greens. But what is most striking about this book is the brilliant seven-page wordless comic book-style sequence where Old Beaver becomes a superhero. Nitto delicately balances a playful sense of humour with a serious message: we see Old Beaver streaking through the air, a cane in one hand while he stops a truck with the other, and we also see the animals whose homes and lives have been lost. Nitto uses an old comic book convention, Xs for the dead animals’ eyes, to make the destruction less traumatic. By using this style of cartoon illustration, Nitto reaches a younger audience than is usually the target for books with this kind of strong “protect the planet” message.