A Little House in a Big Place

by Alison Acheson, Valeriane Leblond (Illustrator)

Overview

Every day, in a little house in a little town in the middle of a big place, a girl stands at her window and waves to the engineer of the train that passes on the nearby tracks. The engineer waves back and his wave and her wave together make a home in her heart. The little girl is curious about the engineer, about where he came from and where he goes. Which makes her wonder if she might go away, too, some day. This beautiful free verse picture book explores the magic of a connection made between strangers, while also pondering the idea of growing up, and what might lie beyond a child's own small piece of the world.

Alison Acheson has created a deceptively simple, warm story that will stay with readers of all ages long after they've closed the book. Children everywhere will relate to the girl at her window — what child hasn't waved to the driver of a train, truck, or bus and hadn't been thrilled to have the wave returned? Valériane Leblond's illustrations echo the girl's feelings for the prairie, the “big place” where she lives, with wide, open vistas and long views of the train coming and going. The flowing free verse offers a terrific opportunity for discussions of poetry styles and subjects.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771389129
Publisher:	Kids Can Press
Publication date:	05/07/2019
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD660L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Alison Acheson is the author of several books for various ages, from picture books to short fiction for adults. She teaches Writing for Children and Young Adults in the MFA program at the University of British Columbia. Alison lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Valériane Leblond is a French and Québécoise artist who was brought up in Angers, France. She lives in an old farmhouse near Aberystwyth, Wales.

Editorial Reviews

02/18/2019

In lyrical verse, Acheson writes, “A girl lived in a little house... in the middle of a big place”; the girl’s sibling plays on a patchwork quilt amid patchwork fields. Every day, the girl exchanges waves with the train engineer and wonders whether “she might go away, too” one day. Chalky multimedia art by LeBlond portrays perspective—a little house against a liquid, star-flecked sky; wild strawberries against a vast field; the dot that becomes a train that becomes “an almost invisible dot.” After the engineer tosses the girl his cap on his last day on the job, the girl too moves away from her daily post, on to the business of growing up. Years later, she dons the cap as she herself boards a train to a new place with similarities to her family home, showing that temporal and spatial changes are fluid, necessary, parts of life. Ages 4–7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

... entirely pleasurable.—Kirkus Reviews

A quiet, dreamy coming-of-age story that gently highlights the influence that strangers can have on one's imagination.—School Library Journal

... lyrical ...—Publishers Weekly

Acheson's free verse text is spare and rich in meaning ...—Canadian Children's Book News

From the Publisher

05/01/2019

PreS-Gr 2—A girl living in a little house surrounded by an expansive patchwork of fields loves to watch the train rumble by her backyard each day. She waves to the engineer, and he waves back. The child wonders "where he came from and where he went. And if she might go away, too, someday." One day, the engineer floats a gift through the air to the young girl, which she cherishes always. Although the daily habit of greeting the speeding train dissipates, the lasting impression of that experience never leaves the young girl, even as she matures into a young woman. Done in gouache, oil pastels, and colored pencils, Leblond's illustrations perfectly convey the feeling that people only take up a small space in the vast world around them. Invoking a sense of curiosity and imagination, the combination of text and artwork takes readers on a journey of thoughtful wonder about all that the future may hold. The presence of the engineer's gift in the illustration depicting the girl's entry into adult life demonstrates the significance of the engineer and his impact on the young girl's development. VERDICT A quiet, dreamy coming-of-age story that gently highlights the influence that strangers can have on one's imagination.—Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE

School Library Journal

2019-01-28

A wistful little girl imagines a world beyond the gardens and grain fields of home.

A country girl waits patiently at her window each day to wave to the engineer of the train that passes nearby, traveling east in the morning and journeying west at night, wondering about this person she will never meet. Like her, does he dream of a life different from the one he has? The gift of the engineer's hat gives the precocious child the courage to explore her safe domain and imagine a different life. Surrounded by loving parents, a baby brother, some quiet cows, and a snoozing cat, she looks beyond the borders of a bucolic world to ponder where else she could go, what else she could be. Acheson chooses rhythmic language that carries the story forward with a nearly audible clickety-clack. Soft folk-style art done in gouache, oil pastels, and colored pencils lends a homey country atmosphere to the changing seasons of a very quiet rural life. Both the little girl's perspective and the pages' focus change from up close to far away, from what's real to what's imagined, always with her family nearby. A final two-page spread provides a happy ending that, like the arrival of a train, we know is coming. All the characters present white.

Although the book's plot is, perhaps, as predictable as the evening train, it's entirely pleasurable. (Picture book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews