I think that the purpose of the story is to teach people that some places are just really important to people and the memories of childhood. I think that the author of this story wanted to tell people that it is ok to have a place in your heart and never forget it. The author of this story did a good job of making it clear that this forest was a major part of the characters childhood and that losing this forest will have a great impact on his life. In my opinion this was a good story and it really got the message out that this boy would miss this forest for the rest of his life. I also thought that the author could have just told us like why all the little boys friends moved away.