Home Making: House Mouse by Michael Hall

ONE CHILLY MORNING, A MOUSE TRAVELED....

The Mouse climbed up and over a high hill, and paddled across a wide stream and wandered into a patch of wild asparagus, and spots ...

SOMETHING WARM AND WELCOME.

It was a warm, welcoming fire. But it needed something to keep it in, so she made...

A STOVE!

The stove keeps the fire going and the mouse went...

WHERE THE CHILLINESS WASN'T...

and the fox won't go near the place where the fire is. So Mouse builds a beautiful stone floor for the stove, and then a strong wooden roof to keep keep her fire dry and her asparagus soup simmering on the stove. But she still needs something.

And when one night when she heard a sound...

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK,

Nobody was there until Mouse builds a strong wooden door to open. And at the door there were weary wanderers who needed to be inside, with a sack of veggies that needed making into soup.

And they did.

And the House Mouse is always happy to welcome all to sit by her warm fire, in author-illustrator Michael Hall's latest picture book, House Mouse (Harper/Greenwillow, 2021). In his trademark geometric mixed media art, Michael Hall has his character craft his own home to express the wise words that it takes a lot of living to make a house a home. Creating a home takes hard work and like a good soup, just the right ingredients and someone with whom to love the house and savor the soup.

Says Horn Book's reviewer, "Hall’s use of onomatopoeia and geometric shapes (a triangle for the mouse’s body; rectangles for the house’s frame and floor) naturally emphasize and extend the construction theme. . . . . This tale of a mouse and her house is aglow with tenacity, generosity, and good cheer.” For more of Michael Hall's storytelling magic, see some of his other noted pictured books, Wonderfall, and My Heart Is Like a Zoo and Red: A Crayon's Story.

A World Away! Home Is In Between by Mitali Perkins

 

"GOODBYE HOME!" SHANTI WAVES TO WARM MONSOON RAINS AND TO THE GREEN PALM TREES OF HER VILLAGE.

In only one sleep and a long airplane ride, Shanti finds herself in what seems like another world, with cold rains and chilly winds scattering red and orange leaves from the trees and tall brick houses--a town where there is no one she knows. In her apartment, it's like the village they left behind, the same stories in Bangla and Mama's luchi for dinner, but outside in a restaurant, she must keep a napkin in her lap and her elbows off the table when she orders a bowl of macaroni and cheese. But her father's laugh is big, like always. Then, when they call their relatives at home, they are celebrating a holiday that the people in the new town don't know. In the new town the children are dressed in odd costumes and trick-or-treating, while Shanti only gives out candy at the door.

"NEXT YEAR, JOIN US," SAYS TONYA.

And at Christmas, Santa leaves a stocking for Shanti--at Tonya's house! Although it is a different kind of dance, Shanti joins Tonya at ballet class. Shanti watches Bollywood movies at home and Hollywood movies with Tonya and her friend Malcolm. And when it snows, Shanti and Tonya join Malcolm in his snow fort, throwing snowballs. One kid on the other team is impressed.

"YOU CAN THROW! DO YOU PLAY TEE BALL?"

"WHAT'S THAT?" ASKED SHANTI.

"BASEBALL, SILLY! WHERE ARE YOU FROM? MARS?"

Suddenly, Shanti is tired of being in between. Where does she belong? Where is home? She sleeps.

And when she wakes, she sees the same blue sky that is above the village and above the town. It's spring, with warm sun and green trees in the town.

And Shanti sees that she can be home wherever she is, in Mitali Perkins' sensitive story of an immigrant child learning to be at home wherever she is, Home Is in Between Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021).

It's a big world with many different places just a sleep and a short journey away, as portrayed by artist Lavanya Naidu's charming pictures of kids being kids on both side of the globe and the families that nurture them everywhere. Between them, artist and author give youngsters an idea of what it feels like to be the immigrant, the stranger in a strange land. Says School Library Journal, "This book can serve as either a validating mirror or an illuminating window. A warm read-aloud, it is a must-purchase for all picture book collections."

No Place Like... The House That's Your Home by Sally Lloyd-Jones

THE GIRL IS A DAUGHTER AND THE BOY IS A SON. 

AND YOU ARE A FAMILY IN THE HOUSE THAT IS YOUR HOME.

What makes a house a home? Noted author Sally Lloyd Jones lists all the things that make a home for a small child--a mommy and a daddy, pets, both dog and cat, books and toys in the children's rooms, and outdoor toys and  grassy yard in which to play ball with their puppy, ride their bikes, join with their friends to play, and a garden where the girl, bedecked in gardening boots and apron, plants flowers in front of their cozy cottage.

ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE
IN THE AIR YOU BREATHE
IN A PLACE OF YOUR OWN, IN THE WORLD
THAT IS YOUR HOME.

In Sally Lloyd-Jones' latest, The House That's Your Home (Schwartz and Wade, 2015) it is an idyllic home, portrayed in the author's gently paced, repetitive text and artist Jane Dyer's lovely, slightly retro-styled illustrations. Not all children, of course, live in a such a child-centered, picturesque craftsman cottage, with potted geraniums decorating the wide front porch. With its privileged setting, this book does not show that the house that is a home can look quite different for different families, but the author does emphasize that what makes a house a home is the family that lives inside.