When Gina’s parents move to a house in the Amazon rainforest in order to research medicinal plants, the young girl is left alone for much of the time. An imaginative and kind child she amuses herself exploring the rainforest which starts just past the end of the garden. Joaquin, a sleek black jaguar, saves her from an attack by a caiman and soon the two are inseparable as he becomes her best friend, and teaches her more about the rainforest. But Joaquin has a secret and Gina is trying her best to get to the bottom of it. A varied assortment of friends ranging from Sam and Joe, the joking toucans, to Sloe and his adorable baby sloths, as well as the herd of capybara, soon become her daily companions. The friends have adventures in the forest until one day lightning starts a forest fire and they must flee for their lives. Written to bring out the characters of each animal, and inform readers in an entertaining way of the issues confronting the creatures of the rainforest, this book, the first in a series of five, will leave kids eager to experience more of the adventures of Gina and Joaquin.