A HOUSE consists of a series of graphic renderings of said house, accompanied by pertinent questions.“Where is the door? What color is it?” and “Where is the window? What shape is it?” Seems basic enough, but there’s a lot going on here: “Where is the sun? Is it up? Where are the birds? Are all of them flying?…Where is the moon? Does it look like a window? Where are the stars? How many are there?”
Small changes to the image will have readers conjuring up questions of their own. But then the book takes an emotional turn when the narrator exclaims “Look! Here comes a dog. Here comes a cat. Here comes some people.” And we learn that, actually, we have not been studying a house. Rather, we have been studying a home.
Henkes’s gentle, perceptive questions encourage readers to think deeply on what constitutes a house, including how it relates to the things around it. And, more importantly, how it relates to the things that are in it. Using an art stye reminiscent of his lovely book WAITING, with brown ink, watercolor paints, and colored pencils, the author/illustrator has created a(nother) surprisingly perfect picture book.
--Lynn
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