Homeplace [Library Binding]

Anne Shelby (Author), Wendy Anderson Halperin (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

Grandmother tells the story of the family farmhouse, from 1810, when a distant ancestor cleared the land and planted corn, to today, in a tale complemented by more than one hundred and fifty pictures, showing the family's heirlooms and keepsakes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Your great-great-great-great-grandpa built this house," explains a woman to her granddaughter at the opening of this rich pictorial history of a home that six generations of a family have inhabited. Shelby's gentle, comfortingly repetitive text recounts how the dwelling, which began as a log cabin, was enlarged over the years as men cleared more land and planted additional crops while their wives baked bread, spun wool, stitched quilts and rocked babies. The customs and domestic details of each era-from 1810 to 1995-are portrayed impeccably in Halperin's (Hunting the White Cow) wondrously busy watercolor-and-pencil art, deftly balanced arrangements of landscapes, interior scenes, closely focused insets, sequential panels and borders. Showing newfangled inventions (train, car, TV, computer) alongside cherished heirlooms (cradle, quilt, pottery crock, doll), Halperin, like Shelby, presents a heartwarming picture of simultaneous continuity and change. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2?This story opens with a grandmother rocking a child in the present day, explaining that "Your great-great-great-great grandpa built this house." At the bottom of the page, readers see a man felling a tree. Each spread employs a different design in order to highlight the main action while also portraying related details. The latter are found in a variety of insets and borders. Unity is achieved through the symmetry of facing pages; the presence of the grandmother and grandchild, whose conversation frames the story; and through the even pacing of each generation's entrance. In tracing a home's history from 1810 to the present, the narrative depicts various processes, from building a log cabin to planting corn. Also, it portrays slices of life throughout the generations?sleeping on a cornstalk mattress, eating hamburgers at a drive-in. Most importantly, it reveals the stability and continuity that is possible through family ties, even while the outside world is changing. The text is brief, but poetic?a fitting accompaniment to the rhythm of life presented in the earth-toned watercolors. Due to the amount of visual detail on each page, Homeplace is best suited for one-on-one sharing. Perfect for grandma's lap!?Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Library Binding: 25 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531087328
• ISBN-13: 978-0531087329
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,330,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anne (Gabbard) Shelby was born in Berea, Kentucky, in 1948, and lives in rural Southeastern Kentucky, in a farmhouse that has been in her family for generations. She has published essays, newspaper columns, plays, songs, and children's books, among them an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, an American Folklore Society Aesop Accolade winner, a School Library Journal Best Book, and a Junior Library Guild Selection. Her collection of poems, Appalachian Studies, was a Kentucky Literary Award and Appalachian Writers Association Book of the Year nominee.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful trip down memory lane., April 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Homeplace (Hardcover)

I work in an elementary school library and I came across Homeplace. This is a delightful book for children from 3 to 93. The story it tells brings back memories of simpler times. And the illustrations are superb. There is so much detail on every page everyone is bound to recognize an heirloom or tradition from their own past in them. I have recommended it to many children to take home and have their parents read it to them. I am 40 and I bought this book for myself.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Homeplace for the heart, October 24, 2001

By 

W. Griffith (Manchester, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homeplace (Paperback)

I stumbled across this book in one of the Smithsonian gift shops and had to have it. The warmth of the pencil and watercolor illustrations is captivating. When I read it with my daughter, it always brings up questions about my grandparents and others in our family she never got to know. This book is a wonderful gift for a new parent or grandparent.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great story for bedtime reading!, November 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Homeplace (Hardcover)

My 5 yr. old brought the book home from her school library. I loved it so much and she enjoyed the pictures that we decided to purchase it. It's an excellent "sharing" book, I used it to talk with my daughter about the importance of what our ancestors did for us.