Customer Reviews

The House in the Meadow

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"Over in the meadow, it was springtime when.../came a bride and a groom and their best friends 10./"And now..." said the couple. "A house!" said the 10./So they planned through the year, and when spring came again..." Inspired by Olive Wadsworth's classic poem Over In The Meadow, author Shutta Crum's creative and fun-filled picture book combines learning numbers and house building. Soon the countdown begins as first 9 construction workers, then 8 masons, and 7 carpenters show up with tools and heavy equipment to begin the job. Then 6 well drillers, 5 roofers, 4 plumbers, 3 electricians, and 2 painters complete the house. Last but not least Inspector Number 1 arrives. "So he looked and he listed. Everything was done!" Ms Crum's exuberant rhythmic, rhyming text is engaging, and complemented by Paige Billin-Frye's bold, bright, and playful collage artwork. A perfect selection for circle or story time, The House In The Meadow is a charming, clever sing-along, and preschoolers will revel in all the counting and building fun. "Over in the meadow, by the house, in the sun,/waved the wife and the husband and their new little one./"Home!" said the couple. "You're home,"said everyone./Then they lived in the meadow,/in their house that was done!"

Inspired by the counting poem "Over in the Meadow," the story follows the life of a couple from their marriage to the completion of their home. "A bride and a groom and their best friends 10" celebrate their marriage in the meadow, then the countdown brings a myriad of workers and community members who contribute to the construction of their home, including masons, carpenters, and plumbers, right down to inspector number 1. The rhythm sometimes gets a little sticky with the construction vocabulary, but B loved talking about each worker and seeing the house take shape with each turn of the page. The illustrations are cut-paper collage, striking and bold. I appreciated that the workers represented various ethnicities and included women as the leaders of several crews. The home is completed the following spring, just in time for the couple to move in with their new little one. With my experience limited to home renovations rather than construction, I can only imagine that year would feel like an eternity, and yet at the end, that couple with the new baby would look back at their wedding and say, "has it really been a whole year?"
Beyond the bouncy rhyme and counting practice, there are some good opportunities to stretch that cognitive development if you extend the discussion around the book. As I mentioned, the community represented is diverse, and you may want to highlight that with your child, emphasizing the choices he or she has. Though not the backbone of the story, the book also depicts the passage of time and seasons - a very tough concept for a young child. The illustrations help show the changes in the scenery, and if you live in an area with distinct seasonal changes, you might want to page through the story with a photo album near by and track the passage of a year in your town. The House in the Meadow also offers an ever-so-simple introduction to the concepts of marriage and children, which you may choose to elaborate upon with your child if it seems appropriate. Finally, you can extend the discussion further to the social domain by highlighting the importance of the various community workers in accomplishing the goal. Point out that each has a special talent that was important to the final product. Community workers are often a part of the social studies curriculum for kindergarten and/or primary grades, check with your child's teacher if you'd like to use this story to help your child make connections.
Also reviewed at Little Sprout Books

My two year old loves this book. We read it every night (It's too short to be annoying for me). I think it's broadening his world, helping him to see the works behind his own home. He asks questions now about where the water goes after his bath and why the lights turn on. I can reference the book in my answers to his satisfaction. It also compliments his growing interest in trucks, tools and machinery. Very nice twist on an old standard, for toddlers and preschoolers.
(In contrast, another favorite book we often read adjacent to this one is "Henry Builds a Cabin," by DB Johnson)

We recently got this book out of the library and my son loved it so much that we ordered it, so he has it to keep. The book shipped when it was supposed to and arrived as such, also!