The Big House and the Little House

by Yoshi Ueno Narrated by Andrew Eiden

Overview

Little Mouse and Big Bear live on opposite ends of the same road, and they both would like a friend. But every morning, Little Mouse and Big Bear pass by each other, unnoticed. Until one day, their eyes meet! It's a little awkward at first-as most new friendships can be-but soon enough they're sipping warm tea together in Big Bear's cozy home, and making plans to meet again the following Sunday. When a nasty storm blows into town will it wreck everything they've built?

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Fujishima brings readers a subdued palette of earth tones, and there is a lovely buttery (yet pale) canary yellow that dominates, infusing the book with cheer. Her depictions of the trees, hedges, and flowers on the long road where both characters live are especially intricate and textured.”-Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast,


“Lifting his friend’s house makes Big Bear a modest hero, but the drama doesn’t take over the story. Ueno’s leisurely pace and Fujishima’s comforting artwork create a bubble that surrounds and encloses readers, who come to feel part of Little Mouse and Big Bear’s world.” -Publishers Weekly,


[STAR] “Tender and companionable.” -Kirkus Reviews (starred),


“The deeply textured illustrations, in pen and ink, watercolor, and colored pencil, carry the emotional weight, ringing the changes on shades of blue and yellow and reminiscent, in the portrayal of trees, clouds, and waves, of the serenity and drama of Japanese woodblock prints.”-Horn Book,

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2021-01-27
From far away down a long road, two animals make friends.

The horizontal orientation of this title offers long left-to-right spreads, and across them wanders a pale yellow road, sloping gradually upward. “At one end was a little house, standing all alone,” so tiny that readers must peer closely to glimpse the red-roofed miniature. Far away, up the low-grade hill, stands a “big house”— big only when compared to the small one, still small in the countryside landscape. Little Mouse and Big Bear each live contentedly, but both are lonely. Details twinkle: Little Mouse works in a busy bakery (with a chef’s toque and rolling pin) while Big Bear works “alone in the forest”; each heads away from the other’s house to reach work; and Little Mouse explores the forest only on the single day Big Bear explores the town. The prose in this translation from the Japanese is plainspoken and elegant. Fujishima uses fine black pen for outlines, shadings, and textures while light hues—tans, pinks, blues, and greens, all pale—round out the gentle scenes. After the two bond but before they quite solidify a friendship, the river overflows, endangering Little Mouse’s house. Big Bear ventures bravely out into an almost-unrecognizable panorama of rolling blue water, blue trees, and blue wind—but readers will recognize the shape of the road between the houses, and there is, natch, a happy ending that’s the opposite of treacly.

Tender and companionable. (Picture book. 2-7)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177060149
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	03/18/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	Up to 4 Years

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