I have generally avoided reading books or consuming media (besides the news) about the pandemic -- I am still feeling traumatized by it. But I came across this picture book, and I gave it a read. It is all about a few cases where wildlife began reclaiming areas (cities, shorelines, tourist-infested forests) that are generally overrun by humans, when the humans were forced to stay inside. Everything from gigantic walruses, humping down the asphalt, peeking in store windows, to tiny frogs, hopping out of their hibernation toward ponds, via backyards. The full-color illustrations depict these animals in these unlikely places, and the text describes areas all over the world -- a reminder that the pandemic, and the lockdowns, extended over the entire globe (it's so easy to see nothing beyond your own front door, in these situations). The epilogue calls this period of global human lockdown the "anthropause," which I love, and reassures us that if we humans do end up eliminating ourselves by our own stupidity (which seems more and more likely to happen, eventually), other creatures will continue to exist, and will adapt to our built environment. But, it also reminds us that some animals have become dependent on humans for their existence, and those will have a hard time surviving when we do disappear. But I choose to take a positive message from this book, and admire our animal friends even more than I already did. ( )