The noisy howler monkeys disappeared from a Costa Rican valley when the trees were cut down. Marta remembers. She and her children plant and tend new trees, and eventually bring the monkeys back.
The Costa Rican valley where Marta grew up was a quiet, peaceful place except when the howler monkeys noisily announced the coming of day or night. Marta's father gave permission for men from the city to cut the trees from the mountainside. And when nothing was left the monkeys slipped away. With a small piece of land Marta works to bring back the forest for the monkeys. She plants and tends trees and teaches each of her 11 children, in turn, to do the same. When she is an old woman she once again hears the monkeys.
The picturesque watercolor illustrations capture the beauty of the rain forest valley as well as clearly portray the personalities of the characters. Shadowy silhouettes of energetic monkeys top the blocks of text.
Unlike picture books that offer simple solutions to ecological destruction, this one emphasizes the years of hard work required to reverse the results of swift destruction of animal habitats.