House in the Mail [Hardcover]

Rosemary Wells (Author), Dan Andreasen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Writing in a scrapbook in 1927, a young girl tells the fascinating story of her family's mail-order house arriving from Sears, Roebuck. Moving out of the little house they share with their grandparents, Emily and her brother, Homer, have a lot of changes in store for them: an electric refrigerator, electric lights, a washing machine, a gas stove, and running water indoors. Luminous illustrations show, in great detail, the process of clearing the land, building a foundation, and creating a house from a kit. Hand-written captions from Emily give the illustrations a cozy, personal feel, showing the reader just how exciting a house in the mail can be.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rosemary Wells and her late husband, an architect, charmingly detail the construction of a house built from a kit ordered from the Sears, Roebuck catalogue in 1928. Narrated by 12-year-old Emily and arranged to resemble a scrapbook, the volume exuberantly begins: "Hello, whoever you are out there in the world of the future!" Convincing if staid facsimiles of snapshots, advertisements, blueprints, objects in the new house and holiday mementos bolster the period particulars in the story, which speaks also to the strong bond among the members of Emily's family. Anecdotes and snatches of conversation flesh out the era. For example, when her younger brother wishes aloud that their parents had used the house money to buy a Ford truck instead, Emily points out the modern conveniences: "An electric refrigerator. No more drip pan for you to empty from under the icebox. And Ma won't make you carry twenty buckets of hot water for the laundry, because we're getting a new washing machine." From the selection of "the Lincoln" (a six-room "bungalow" selling for $2,500) to the hanging of 22 doors on brass hinges, Emily chronicles each step of the house-raising. Andreasen's (illustrator of Wells's Streets of Gold) art adheres to the scrapbook premise, sacrificing a more dynamic rhythm and palette to offer neatly compiled images in muted colors; the visual treatment is both faithful and skillful. Ages 6-10.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4--In the early to mid-1900s, it was possible to order entire houses through the mail. In this charming story, the Cartwrights of Kentucky choose, send for, build, and furnish just such a home in 1927. Twelve-year-old Emily has kept a scrapbook to document the procedure. The text is a comfortable blend of information with occasional insights into the life and relationships of the family. Little brother Homer is thrilled that there will be a window onto the roof so he can climb out and watch the stars, but concerned that the indoor running water will mean more baths. Andreasen's illustrations, in appropriate scrapbook format, are chock-full of gracefully rendered details from the period, including a Hoosier cabinet and "modern" icebox. This is a lovely way to introduce today's children to an interesting slice of Americana.
Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (March 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670035459
• ISBN-13: 978-0670035458
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 11 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,892,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in New York City, Rosemary Wells grew up in a house "filled with books, dogs, and nineteenth-century music." Her childhood years were spent between her parents' home near Red Bank, New Jersey, and her grandmother's rambling stucco house on the Jersey Shore. Most of her sentimental memories, both good and bad, stem from that place and time. Her mother was a dancer in the Russian Ballet, and her father a playwright and actor. Mrs. Wells says, "Both my parents flooded me with books and stories. My grandmother took me on special trips to the theater and museums in New York. "Rosemary Wells's career as an author and illustrator spans more than 30 years and 60 books. She has won numerous awards, and has given readers such unforgettable characters as Max and Ruby, Noisy Nora, and Yoko. She has also given Mother Goose new life in two enormous, definitive editions, published by Candlewick. Wells wrote and illustrated Unfortunately Harriet, her first book with Dial, in 1972. One year later she wrote the popular Noisy Nora. "The children and our home life have inspired, in part, many of my books. Our West Highland white terrier, Angus, had the shape and expressions to become Benjamin and Tulip, Timothy, and all the other animals I have made up for my stories." Her daughters Victoria and Beezoo were constant inspirations, especially for the now famous "Max" board book series. "Simple incidents from childhood are universal," Wells says. "The dynamics between older and younger siblings are common to all families."But not all of Wells' ideas come from within the family circle. Many times when speaking, Mrs. Wells is asked where her ideas come from. She usually answers, "It's a writer's job to have ideas." Sometimes an idea comes from something she reads or hears about, as in the case of her recent book, Mary on Horseback, a story based on the life of Mary Breckenridge, who founded the Frontier Nursing Service. Timothy Goes to School was based on an incident in which her daughter was teased for wearing the wrong clothes to a Christmas concert. Her dogs, west highland terriers, Lucy and Snowy, work their way into her drawings in expression and body position. She admits, "I put into my books all of the things I remember. I am an accomplished eavesdropper in restaurants, trains, and gatherings of any kind. These remembrances are jumbled up and changed because fiction is always more palatable than truth. Memories become more true as they are honed and whittled into characters and stories."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A House of Their Own....., May 8, 2002

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: House in the Mail (Hardcover)

"Hello, whoever you are out there in the world of the future! I wonder how many years will pass before someone reads this. I'm only twelve years old now, but I might be a very old lady by the time you read these pages." Narrated by Emily Cartwright of Enfield, Kentucky, and presented as a family scrapbook, Tom and Rosemary Wells describe how one family picked out and built a mail order house from Sears, Roebuck & Company. The house will arrive by freight train, ready to be assembled, and there will be six rooms, modern appliances like a gas stove, electric ice-box, and washing machine, and best of all indoor plumbing...no more chopping wood, emptying drip pans, and hauling and heating water from the well. The Wells' easy to read and engaging text takes the reader on an exciting adventure as the house comes to life on the page, and is full of charming period details, interesting facts and trivia, and intriguing anecdotes about the early 1900s. Dan Andreasen's beautiful and evocative artwork combines drawings, blueprints, old photographs, advertisements, and mementos, that give the "scrapbook" an old and genuine feeling, and children will enjoy poring over the pictures and exploring all the special details in each illustration. Perfect for youngsters 6-10, or as a read- aloud story the entire family can share together, The House In The Mail is a captivating and entertaining slice of Americana that should open the door to interesting discussions, and a wonderful experience that shouldn't be missed.

4.0 out of 5 stars "In the days before Junk Mail !*, July 18, 2006

By 

mcHaiku "nmi" (Brown County INDIANA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: House in the Mail (Hardcover)

The baby brother of Emily & Homer was born in 1927, in a hospital instead of at home. He didn't know about living with an icebox, nor wood for heat & cooking, and carrying buckets of water to do the washing. That's because the family built their own modern home just before he was born.

And more surprising: they chose their house from a Sears & Roebucks catalog, ordered it by mail (GUESS HOW MUCH IT COST !!!), and it came by train! That would cause some celebrating, to meet your house at the train station instead of grandparents or cousins. Emily made a scrapbook to tell about all the important happenings in her life. She pasted in part of the floor plan and even a sketch of the secret hiding place her dad built into her closet floor just for her. Emily says the baby won't know how it was "in the old days" - - but the scrapbook 'compiled' by authors Rosemary and Tom Wells will help many of us learn more about those times in rural America. Life changes so rapidly that mail-order houses, and even Sears catalogs, too, will soon be known only to historians!

People will read about them on a search engine and I'll bet that even "Google" hasn't heard of an "A.S.P." ~ ~ "approved sanitary privies" constructed for rural homeowners in the 1930's by W.P.A workers. Those were men who were employed by the government's "Works Progress Administration" during the Great Depression.

Reviewer mcHAIKU hopes this picture book will inspire some old-fashioned scrap-booking and also unlock memories, turning young readers of this book into oral historians! Help your 'grands' experience the fun of learning about the many uses of the Sears catalog, too.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars cute pictures, but..., May 4, 2002

By 

Rosemary Thornton "Niece of Addie Hoyt Fargo ... (Norfolk, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The House in the Mail (Paperback)

It's a great idea for a story and a worthy story that needs to be told, but...

Some of the information contained in this children's book is not accurate. I know, I know, this book is "just for kids" but aren't children worthy of historically accurate information? The beauty part of historical fiction is that it's a fictional account told within the solid framework of accurate historical details.

THere are many problems with this little book, such as the telling of how one of the children used leftover pieces and parts from the Sears kit house to "build a treehouse."

These were pre-cut kit homes and the only leftover pieces and parts would be small bits of trim moulding (which was approximately sized, but not precisely pre-cut). Hard to build a treehouse from 87 2-inch and 3-inch pieces of window trim and baseboard.

There are other parts of the story that are lacking, too. That being said, I like the pictures a lot. They're cute, colorful and the children look real and happy.

Rose Thornton
author, The Houses That Sears Built