The House That's Your Home

by Sally Lloyd-Jones, Jane Dyer

Overview

Like the bestselling title On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman, this picture book is sure to touch the hearts of parents, grandparents, and children. The tender rhythmic text follows a young girl as she moves through her world, while utterly charming watercolors bring that world into vivid focus.

Told in second person, as if written by a parent to a child, the story gently highlights all the love and joy that make the girl's world her very own, from the tree that stands in her yard, to the swing that swings her right up to the sky, to her bed that's a ship to the moon. A beautiful ode to a loving family from a bestselling author and illustrator.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375987984
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	02/10/2015
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	39 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

SALLY LLOYD-JONES is the author of the books How to Be a Baby . . . by Me, the Big Sister, which was a New York Times bestseller, an ALA-ALSC Notable Book, and the recipient of two starred reviews; How to Get Married . . . by Me, the Bride; and How to Get a Job . . . by Me, the Boss. She is also the author of Poor Doreen, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger.
 
JANE DYER is the illustrator of more than 50 books for children, including the picture-book mega-bestsellers Time for Bed by Mem Fox, Cookies: Bite Size Lessons by Amy Krause Rosenthal, and I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose A. Lewis. Ms. Dyer lives in Northampton, MA.

Editorial Reviews

12/08/2014
Lloyd-Jones (Bunny’s First Spring) and Dyer (Time for Bed) offer a reflective appreciation of the treasured people, objects, and routines in a child’s life. Throughout, a redheaded, rosy-cheeked girl is seen in and around her family’s bucolic countryside house—playing with the family pets, quietly reading on a window seat, watering flowers in a verdant garden—before the story moves on to her world beyond, as she plays with friends at school and walks in the park with her grandparents. Writing in second person, Lloyd-Jones maintains a calming, affirming tone as she drives home themes of belonging and ownership (“A book is Your Book/ And a ball is Your Ball/ And they are Your Things“). While a sense of safety and security resounds, thanks in no small part to Dyer’s lovely gouache-and-pencil illustrations, this is a narrow, privileged vision of home (many readers will not have their own rooms, two-parent homes, bikes, tree swings, etc.). Some children will find this book comforting; others may be left with a sense of the gulf between their lives and the idyllic one seen on page. Ages 3–7. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2015
PreS-Gr 1—A house is just a building, but a home is made up of all the pieces on the inside. Lloyd-Jones tells the tale of a young girl and the parts that make up her home in rhythmic, hand-lettered text. The story builds on repetition and travels through a day with the main character, inside her home and further into her community. "And your Swing is to swing you./Right up to the sky/Up over the wall/Up, up till you see/Swallows and cornfields/And tractors and sheep/And the world that is waiting below." Dyer's gouache and pencil pictures include a balanced variation of spreads and closer images with greater white space behind them. The images reveal the finer details of a young child's life and draw together the broad story line. Although the words are charming and the pictures are captivating, the book does paint a very privileged, middle-class version of what constitutes a home. According to this title, it means having a full family, a large house, a yard with a swings- et, a bike, lots of toys, and much more. For communities that can relate to this standard of living, this selection will be well received as a read aloud.—Megan Egbert, Meridian Library District, ID

School Library Journal

2014-11-04
Lloyd-Jones and Dyer introduce children to the concept of "self" in relation to "place." A little redheaded girl is gradually made aware of the expanding boundaries of her world, from the familiar and immediate environment of her house to the schoolyard and beyond, culminating with the world: "On the ground where you stand / In a place of Your Own / In the world / That's Your Home." Throughout this catalog of the mundane, the language ranges from lyrical ("And the sun rising up / Is the light of Your Eyes") to pedestrian, even monotonous ("A cat is Your Cat / And a dog is Your Dog / And they are Your Pets"). Whenever something or someone associated with the child is named, the word "your" and the subsequent noun are capitalized: "Your Tree," "Your Life" and "Your Grandpa." This emphasis on the possessive pronoun is mystifying and feels overdone, unless the intent is to reassure an insecure child—which this chubby-cheeked preschooler does not appear to be. Dyer's soft gouache and pencil illustrations are extensions of the soothing tone set by the author and are poetic in their own right, depicting an idealized Caucasian family in an appealing Craftsman-style rural home. They cannot, however, compensate for the needlessly drawn-out text, which is almost too long for the intended age group. Visually beautiful but conceptually off the mark. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews