Available:*
Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Juvenile Picture Book Hardback | 120791001869784 | J P WON | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
It takes time to settle into a house, to learn to love it right, to make it feel homegrown. After the boxes are unpacked and the books are shelved (alphabetically), all a young girl wants to do is settle into her house. Grandmom says that it takes time to learn to love a house right, and this young girl is determined for hers to become homegrown. E. B. Lewis's warm, familial scenes pair with Janet S. Wong's yearning text for an intergenerational story of wishes, dreams, and a true sense of home.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-In this narrative poem packaged as a picture book, the eight-year-old narrator ruminates about her life, describing the various houses that she has lived in. Her family is about to move to a fourth one, and she is not happy. Wong balances the girl's reluctance with her grandmother's humorous realism and artfully weaves both voices into the narration. Whereas her parents are busy envisioning their new dream house, the child yearns for the familiar: waking up to hash browns, waffles, and a chocolate shake at Grandmom's. Finally, motivated by her grandmother's assertion that, "It takes time time/to settle into a house/to learn to love it right/to make it feel homegrown," she stitches together memories of her grandmother's house to create a vision of her own ideal abode and accepts the idea of moving. Lewis's watercolors are exquisite when depicting nature, and are warm in tone, but in the end, uneven. In fact, the layout on one page is quite confusing as it combines small paintings detailing unsavory aspects of houses they see on their "House Hunt Sundays" with the divergent, crowning description of beloved Grandmom's house, without any kind of visual or typographic transition. Helpful for kids who move a lot, this is a solid example of descriptive writing. Unfortunately, the overall feel of the book is sugary.-Sara Paulson-Yarovoy, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A young girl frets about moving to a new house while yearning for a "homegrown" house like her grandmother's. In contrast to Grandmom, who's lived in the same house with its yellow kitchen, moss-green bedrooms, closets full of surprises and freezer packed with Popsicles and pizza for 40 years, the girl has lived in three different houses in eight years. Just when the splinters had worn down on her jungle gym, the fir trees had grown tall enough to hide her and she's made five best friends, her parents decided to move again and againand now again. So this time the girl borrows ideas from Grandmom's old house to make the new house feel "homegrown." As she narrates, the girl transitions from resentment and frustration to acceptance and optimism, gradually coming to terms with the latest move. Lewis's luminous, realistic watercolors brilliantly utilize light and perspective to reveal her changing moods and her warm relationship with her grandmother as well as views of the houses in her life. Kids anticipating or recovering from moving should feel right at home. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Grandmom's known just two houses, / not counting summers with her cousins. / I'm eight / and already I've lived in three, says the young girl who narrates this beautifully illustrated free-verse poem. In spare lines, she describes the challenges of changing houses, and she dreads the current move that her parents are planning. Grandmom's comfortable house, filled with family history, is where the girl feels happiest, and in the end, she accepts her new home after remembering Grandmom's advice: it takes time before a house feels homegrown. Wong's poignant poem nicely captures a child's sense of powerlessness and disorientation. With his usual mastery and sensitivity, Lewis creates a true story from the words in sensitive scenes of the girl, first in Grandmom's warm kitchen and then on her new porch, dreaming of possibilities. Reassuring for children facing moves of their own, this gentle, quiet offering will make an excellent starting point for discussions with young kids about what makes a house a home.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2009 Booklist