Don Wood is one of America's most talented children's book artists. In 1986, Wood won a Caldecott Honor for his illustrations in "King Bidgood's in the Bathtub," which was written by his wife Audrey Wood. In addition to "King Bidgood," Don and Audrey Wood have teamed up to create some of the country's most endearing and enduring picture-book classics, including my favorite, "The Napping House."

"The Napping House" is the cumulative tale of the snoring granny, a dreaming child, a dozing dog, and that memorable refrain:

"There is a house,

a napping house,

where everyone is sleeping."

Seven years ago, the husband and wife children's book duo moved to the Big Island. The Hawai'i influence is apparent in Don Wood's most recent book, "Into the Volcano," in which, for the first time, Don Wood is both author and illustrator.

"Into the Volcano" is clearly an expression of Wood's fascination and reverence for Kilauea Volcano. The format is a 176-page graphic novel that Wood said he worked on for five years.

"Since I was a kid, I've wanted to draw narrative art — that is, art that tells a story," Woods writes. "After delaying my graphic novel for many years, I visited Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island. And discovered the lava tubes beneath the volcano."

Woods hiked the lava 50 times (this was before the flow increased and access was restricted) and he explored miles of the lava tube caves beneath Kilauea. Much of what he experienced is fantastically depicted in the 1,362 drawings that comprise the book.

"Into the Volcano" is the action-adventure story of brothers Sumo and Duffy (who seem to be about 10 and 12) and their travels to a remote island to visit family members they do not know. It begins when their father takes them out of class at school and hands them off to Mister Come-and-Go, who subsequently leaves the boys in the care of other adults that the kids have never met. The boys face uncertainty at every turn, about the strangers who surround them, as well as the dangers of the erupting volcano.

Images of the tropical jungle, storms at sea, underground caves and dripping hot lava are perfect backdrops for the perils the boys face. Think Indiana Jones. These are powerful pictures. Elements of some images are surreal, and may be too scary for little ones to view on their own.

In a starred review, School Library Journal called "Into the Volcano," "a rare example of a graphic novel for young people that is neither manga nor mainstream."