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OUR OLD HOUSE

Name: OUR OLD HOUSE
Author: Susan Vizurraga
ISBN: 0-8050-3911-2

by Susan Vizurraga & illustrated by Leslie Baker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1997

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In Vizurraga's debut, an old Victorian house gives up its secrets slowly, and glimpses from the past are signposts amidst the tangle of renovation and remodeling in the rooms and yard where a young girl imagines former inhabitants. Wallpaper layers, the color of roses, and a name scratched low on the kitchen door are clues to the life of a child who once jumped rope, played marbles, and kept a garden within the same walls, the same yard as the narrator. But adult sentiments fill her dreamy reminiscences; her ramblings turn to questions she asks of a white-haired woman who appears ``standing on that loose front porch step, looking up at our old house,'' a woman who lived there, once upon a time. Baker wets her watercolor palette with the new green of spring in the grass surrounding the house and the soft stenciling on the walls. Porch swings and kittens provide the sleepy background for each sentimental moment. It's a quiet reverie—perhaps too quiet for most children—and it's certainly pretty to look at. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-8050-3911-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1997

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
MISS OPAL’S AUCTION
by Susan Vizurraga & illustrated by Mark Graham

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A DOG NAMED SAM

by Janice Boland & illustrated by G. Brian Karas ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1996

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A book that will make young dog-owners smile in recognition and confirm dogless readers' worst suspicions about the mayhem caused by pets, even winsome ones. Sam, who bears passing resemblance to an affable golden retriever, is praised for fetching the family newspaper, and goes on to fetch every other newspaper on the block. In the next story, only the children love Sam's swimming; he is yelled at by lifeguards and fishermen alike when he splashes through every watering hole he can find. Finally, there is woe to the entire family when Sam is bored and lonely for one long night. Boland has an essential message, captured in both both story and illustrations of this Easy-to-Read: Kids and dogs belong together, especially when it's a fun-loving canine like Sam. An appealing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-8037-1530-7

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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HOME

by Carson Ellis ; illustrated by Carson Ellis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 2015

Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.

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Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”

Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.

Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)