Leslie Kim­mel­man and Iri­na Avgusti­novich tell the sto­ry of Adam and Eve — but this time, the tale is recount­ed from Eve’s point of view as she encoun­ters God’s cre­ations for the first time. She names the ani­mals and all nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na with her own cre­ative touch and encour­ages Adam to do the same. She keeps him calm and reas­sures him with opti­mism when they expe­ri­ence their first fright­en­ing sun­set and night­fall, when they are unsure whether there will be a sec­ond day of light. Eve’s deter­mi­na­tion to face the future with hope will inspire readers.

The mag­nif­i­cent col­or illus­tra­tions show the Gar­den of Eden in all its lush and lav­ish abun­dance. There is no snake in this gar­den — just the beau­ty of new expe­ri­ences and an appre­ci­a­tion of the world’s awe-inspir­ing wonder.

An author’s note to this mod­ern midrash teach­es young read­ers that while new things can be scary and uncom­fort­able, hav­ing faith in ​“your­self, in the peo­ple around you, or in God” can help you cope with life’s chal­lenges and uncer­tain­ties, and give you the con­fi­dence to antic­i­pate what tomor­row may bring.