We Were Tired of Living in a House [Hardcover]

Liesel Moak Skorpen (Author), Joe Cepeda (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 2 and up

Sometimes, living in a house can be tiresome. So these siblings pack a bag and take a hike, to find another place. From a treehouse to a raft, a cave to a sandcastle—each place seems perfect to them. That is, until they tumble out of the treehouse, their raft sinks, they meet the bears who already live in the cave, and the tide turns them out of their sandcastle. Like Goldilocks, these three children search until they finally find the home that's "just right"—the very house they left in the beginning. The house with Mom and Dad! For young children, this lilting, silly book makes for a satisfying read aloud, and the illustrations, with their unusual palette and strong compositions, effortlessly bridge the gap between reality and fantasy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this lighthearted cumulative romp, three young siblings pack a bag with sweaters, socks, mittens and earmuffs and search out alternative dwellings. They enjoy living in a tree, until they tumble out; on a raft in a pond, until it sinks; and in a sand castle by the sea, until the tide comes in. With each move, the children add another item to their bag: in the end their possessions include "scarlet leaves and gold/ and a frog who was a particular friend/ and precious stones that caught and held the sun,/ and seashells singing the songs of the surf." The lilting prose and deft repetition make this a good choice for reading aloud. Cepeda (What a Truly Cool World) wisely plays up the text's silliness, not its visions of the pastoral. Working in a brilliant palette that would suit the contents of a gumball machine, he conjures up such scenarios as one brother hanging upside-down from a tree limb but holding his teacup right-side-up, and the sister, said to be hunting for treasure on the beach, sweeping the sand with a metal detector. Finally, the trio falls into the arms of their waiting parents (pictured only from their shoulders down), cheerfully reminding readers of the virtues of home sweet home. Ages 2-6.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-Youngsters who have found fault with their living conditions will revel in this story of three siblings who leave home to seek more exciting housing. They love life in their tree-until they fall out of it. Similarly, in each new residence-they subsequently try a pond, a cave, and the sea-they are content until disaster strikes. They finally end up back home where their parents greet them with open arms. The text, originally published in 1969 (Coward, McCann & Geoghegan; o.p.), is delightfully lyrical, patterned, and filled with alliteration. There are "turrets and towers," "salty water and warm sea sand," and "seashells singing the songs of the surf." Cepeda's brilliantly colored oil paintings are filled with humor befitting the outlandish theme. The older girl and her two younger brothers, one of them wearing huge glasses, carry their meager belongings in a wagon, adding treasures as they travel. They hang upside down from tree branches, explore pond life with a spyglass, wear a mining hard hat in their cave, and use a metal detector at the seashore. The book is cleverly designed so that each disaster is uncovered with the turn of a page: "We liked our cave,...until we met the bears." Young readers will chime in on the "until" in gleeful anticipation. Be sure to give this gem a home.
Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community-Technical College, CT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (May 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399230165
• ISBN-13: 978-0399230165
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,031,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars stick to the 1960's version, November 12, 2008

By 

Antiquarian "Old Books, Old Friends" (In the mountains) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We Were Tired of Living in a House (Hardcover)

Stick to the older version of this book. I wish who ever thinks it is okay to republishing books with inferior illustration would just STOP! Just because it's for children doesn't mean the pictures should be rendered so crudely.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite childhood book, September 24, 2006

By 

N. Neff "NoraJean QOE" (North Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This is the first book I bought with my own money, at a library sale one summer afternoon.

Skorpen weaves a poetic tale of a group of siblings as they explore more exciting places to live than a house. They live in a tree, on a beach, in a cave and so on, gathering momentos of each place before something happens to make them move on. In the end, they find that a house is a good place for children. On the way, Skorpen's well-crafted words sing and Burn's beautiful two-tone drawings make this book a memorable place for children. It is a book that is "...a particular friend." The later editions replace Burn's art with cartoonish color-mad images that cutsie up the whole thing and ruin the oetic impact. Go with the 1969 version, it is endlessly more beautiful!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical, memorable, enduring...., December 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: We Were Tired of Living in a House (Hardcover)

This book was one of my favorites as a child. I am glad to see that it is still in print. We just moved into a HOUSE when our twins came along. And we brought along a frog, "who is a particular friend" although this one is plastic and guards our front door. So I'm purchasing this book to see the new illustrations, although the original illustrations were favorites of mine. Thankfully I still have my childhood copy as well.