Let's Go Home: The Wonderful Things About a House [Hardcover]

Cynthia Rylant (Author), Wendy Anderson Halperin (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2002

What's the best room in the house?

Is it the kitchen with its wonderful aromas and goodies?

Or is it the front porch, where guests flock to visit on summer nights?

Maybe it's the cozy bedroom, when you are snuggling deep under the covers on winter mornings.

With gracious text and enchanting images, Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant and acclaimed illustrator Wendy Anderson Halperin invite readers home -- to remind us why there's no place like it!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In an oversize yet cozy-looking picture book, Rylant and Halperin explore the components of a home that could easily serve as a setting for this pair's Cobble Street Cousins series. Rylant quickly gets to the heart of her subject: "No matter the kind of house, it is the living inside that makes it wonderful." From there, she conducts readers onto the front porch, over the threshold and into various rooms. In the living room, "there is usually a big sofa," and maybe a fireplace in front of which "husbands and wives who have been married a long time will spend the evening reading or sewing or simply being quiet together." The kitchen is "the room that reminds people to look after each other." And bedrooms "shelter us from the world like no other rooms can." While the author speaks thoughtfully and in general terms about the feelings that rooms conjure for many people, the illustrator focuses on one particular multigenerational family and the colorful lives they lead in their comfortably cluttered house. Halperin's watercolorssometimes featuring multiple snapshot-like scenes of the same room on one pagebrim with idiosyncratic details suggestive of the inhabitants' personalities. Even when the text approaches preciousness ("The smell of cookies makes every person as nice as he can be"), the note of welcome sounds clearly. Readers will want to linger here. All ages.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

reSchool-K-Describing the individual rooms in a house, Rylant moves from porch to attic, stopping by the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms in between. In a quiet, warm mood, the narrative delineates the gestures and activities of a multigenerational household. Halperin brings a multitude of details to life using a pastel palette of gold, green, peach, and rose. Attractive spot art picks up one item from a room, such as a hanging basket from the porch or a teapot from the kitchen, as a visual clue for readers. The love of reading is apparent-books appear throughout the dwelling. This title is similar to Daniele Bour's The House from Morning to Night Kane Miller, 1998), which chronicles each hour of the day. Because there will be something new to discover in the art with subsequent read-ings, children will repeatedly choose this book for one-on-one sharing.
Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; 1 edition (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689823266
• ISBN-13: 978-0689823268
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #571,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cynthia Rylant is the author of numerous distinguished novels and picture books for young readers. In addition to her beginning-reader series: Henry and Mudge, Poppleton, and Mr. Putter and Tabby, as well as her Cobble Street Cousins early-chapter series, she is also the author of the Newbery Medal-winning Missing May, the Newbery Honor Book A Fine White Dust, and two Caldecott Honor-winning picture books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Time to explore!, August 17, 2002

By 

Erin (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Let's Go Home: The Wonderful Things About a House (Hardcover)

This is definitely a book to get for the pictures. Warm and whimsical drawings make up the bulk of this oversized picture book. Kids can follow a brother and sister through the different rooms of a rather busy household--there are different times of day, different seasons of the year, different family members present, and definitely a lot of THINGS (some of them quite wacky) scattered everywhere. Among them are a couple of stuffed animals that follow the kids everywhere they go (one is a winged donkey?!!?). It's almost like a "Where's Waldo?" as you search for them each time you turn the page. The illustrations definitely portray a well-lived-in house that is a ton of fun to explore.

On the down side, the text is nothing to go crazy over. To me it sounds like someone talking off the top of their head--not well-crafted prose, but momentary thoughts. It's almost as if the book was not meant to have words--the adult is just supposed to make up their own story as the kid looks at the pictures--but they included words just in case the adult couldn't think of anything to say. Sometimes the words don't even match the pictures--for the life of me I can't find the dinosaur-shaped sponge anywhere in the bathroom!

That aside, this is a really fun picture book on a unique subject --perfect for some quiet one-on-one exploration with your child.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Home Sweet Home, July 17, 2002

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let's Go Home: The Wonderful Things About a House (Hardcover)

"There are many kinds of houses in the world, from little cottages to big mansions, from farmhouses to bungalows. But no matter the kind of house, it is the living inside that makes it wonderful, what happens in each room that makes it marvelous. It is what the house means to those who live there. Let's walk through. Let's see the wonderful things about a house." And with an invitation like that, who could resist. Join author, Cynthia Rylant, and illustrator, Wendy Anderson Halperin, as they take the reader on a room by room tour of their house. From the front porch to the attic, and all the rooms in between, this dynamic duo investigates each room, detailing all the special things that belong there, and all the wonderful things you might do. Ms Rylant's gentle, lyrical prose is rich in imagery and magic. But it's Ms Halperin's colorful, busy, and expressive artwork that really makes this picture book stand out and sparkle, and she spares no detail in each fun-filled, joyous, cluttered picture. Young and old, alike, will linger over each two page spread, always finding something new and clever every time they open the book and explore a room. Perfect for preschoolers, Let's Go Home is a cozy and engaging read-aloud that's sure to open interesting discussions about your own home and what makes it unique and special. "Happy living."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, September 17, 2008

By 

5. Wars (socal) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Let's Go Home: The Wonderful Things About a House (Hardcover)

When I was little, I loved looking through books with great drawings that FILLED the pages and left little white space - this is such a book - SO much detail, you could look at each page for several minutes. Just a neat book. Each time I read it, as a mom I want to spring up and clean something, just to ensure that my kids are having wonderful memories in OUR house, as the book encourages.