Customer Reviews

A Very Special House

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book came to our family as a hand-me-down from a neighbor for my 2-year-old son, and now we can't live with out it. The rhymes are so witty, entertaining and infectious that I can't tell people about the book without quoting verbatim. Krauss's playful use of language is eternally endearing and Sendaks quirky illustrations of chair-chomping lions and clumsy giants are a treasure. I had feared that this book would be out of print. Now that I have found it, I am buying it for every child (and parent) I know starting with my three-year-old nephew.

...and it's just a house for me me me
At first reading, somewhat bizarre. So read it twice! It grows on you; it grew into our favorite children's book. It screams to be read aloud; the rhymes aren't Seuss-ly annoying, and the rhythms are interesting.
"...they and I are making music
and we're falling over laughing"
The simple illustrations (Sendak, I think?) are great. Krauss's expressions of child-ego are true-to-my-memory, and rang bells with my kids. I could not afford books back then; fortunately our children's librarian had my taste in books (I don't recall any Berenstain Bears!); but this was one book I HAD TO OWN. It makes a very JOYFUL noise. Read it, then find a copy of Pete Seeger's or Woody Guthries' folk songs for kids... a perfect hour.

This was a Caldecott Medal winner in 1954. I think I got it as a Christmas gift a few years later. I loved it . . . I could recite it perfectly by the time I was 5 or 6. When my daughter was born, I got another copy, and it became a fast favorite again. It was lost in a move a few years ago, and my daughter, now 16, was mentioning the other day that she wished we hadn't lost it. I came out here to look, hoping that there might be a used copy I could get her for her next birthday, and wonder of wonders, there's a fresh new copy available. I'll have to read it a few times before her birthday, because I don't think she'll let me read it aloud to her anymore. Maybe she'll read it to me when I can't fall asleep.

I LOVED this book as a child, so much that I asked for a copy as a birthday gift as an adult. This is the most visually entertaining, linguistically exciting, playful and joyful story I ever read in a children's book. Sendak's simple illustrations are profoundly expressive and appropriate for Kraus' self-indugent imaginary escapade. Yes, to most people it probably seems a little bit weird, but if you have an imaginitive child in your life....BUY HIM OR HER THIS BOOK!

This book is charming and imaginative. The children (ages 2 and 4) ask for it over and over.

My daughter and I both love this book! It's kind of quirky, but the more you read it, the more you love it! Great rhythm by Krauss, fantastic illustrations by Sendak. You can't go wrong!

This book was read to me when I was a tyke, back in the 1950s. Then in the 1980s I found it had been republished, in hardback, and I bought copies for myself and all of my friends with kids. And in the last decade I have been reading it to my own youngsters.

And you know what? There was something magical about the teaming of Ruth Krauss and Maurice Sendak (they got together on other masterpieces, too) that has never been equalled. I can recite most all of this book by heart, and every line is indeliby etched in my mind with the unforgettable images. In a world of books with "meaning," with "purpose," this is a classic reversion to the truth of childhood: nothing matters as much as goofiness.

It's wonderful to see this in print. Ruth Krauss and Maurice Sendak are a terrific combination: Krauss's narratives always endorse creativity and love -- in this case, because the house contains love, it necessarily supports the imagination and as a result contains the world. If you and your kids are fans of Harold and The Purple Crayon, this one is for you. Timeless!

I've got nothing more to add- this is just the best!

ISBN 0590045121 - Printed in the United States of America. No age range stated. Paperback and record set, 20 pages. Published by Harper & Row, record from Columbia Book and Record Library, in 1953. By Ruth Krauss, pictures by Maurice Sendak.

A young boy describes a very special house in ever more excited terms.

First, I'm sad to report that my copy is missing the record. And I'm sorry to say that that will probably be the case with most of the Amazon listings, despite the fact that most won't mention a record at all. Look inside your copy, to the copyright page, to see if you've been deprived of your record. If you have, you have no idea what you're missing. I don't think any other book ever in my possession benefited quite so much from the companion record.

As for the book itself. There are, admittedly, some thing that certain parents won't like. The reference to a dead little mouse ("I'm bringing home a... little dead mouse - I take it everywheres"), some questionable grammar ("everywheres"?), perhaps the idea that chairs are for climbing on in this house and that tables are for putting your feet... there are parents who simply won't survive the reading of this book. They should find something else to read. But if you're one of those special parents... the ones who get that sometimes the books of our childhood can be silly and joyous and even loud... come on in. This is a book that you need to read with some animation, some enthusiasm, some vigor. It is not the best bedtime book, but it is the sort of book that children will enjoy, especially if you take the time to read it properly! Sendak's illustrations are unmistakably his work as he brings to life the wild, crazy and wildly appealing imaginary house that is just for the "me, me, me" in the book.

- AnnaLovesBooks