Home Is...

by Hannah Barnaby, Frann Preston-Gannon (Illustrator)

Overview

What makes a home home? Find out in this intriguing exploration of the places creatures call home.

From mountain to sea, meadow to tree, small town to big city, people and animals make their homes all over the world. Some are forever while some change with the seasons, but all are just right for the creatures who live in them. With lyrical rhyming text perfect for reading aloud and evocative jewel-toned illustrations, here is a book that will have young readers thinking about home in a whole new way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534421769
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	08/17/2021
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	498,837
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD210L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 Months to 8 Years

About the Author

Hannah Barnaby is the acclaimed young adult author of Some of the Parts and Wonder Show, which was a 2013 William C. Morris Award Finalist, a 2013 YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults selection, and one of Kirkus Reviews’s Best Teen Books of 2012. She’s also written several picture books including Home Is... and Bad Guy. Visit her at HannahBarnaby.com.

Frann Preston-Gannon is an illustrator and designer. She is the illustrator of Busy-Eyed Day by Anne Marie Pace, One Dark Bird by Liz Garton Scanlon, Home Is... by Hannah Barnaby, and her own The Journey Home. She was the first UK recipient of the Sendak Fellowship and spent a month living with and learning from the great master of illustration, Maurice Sendak. She lives in London, England. Visit her online at Frann.co.uk.

Editorial Reviews

2021-06-02
In this gentle, expository piece, a rhyming text merges with vibrant illustrations to explore multiple interpretations of the meaning of home.

Home is particular for both humans and creatures of the natural world. Alternating and opposing views prove the point. “Home is land, home is sky. / Home is wet, home is dry.” A rural river scene reveals a bear emerging from its den to find breakfast in the fish-filled river, birds flying above through a clear, sunny sky, a beaver observing from its dam, and a small cottage sitting on the far bank. The contrasting views continue: “Home is dark, home is bright. / Home is day, home is night.” The dark undersea world is shown opposite a bright tropical reef to illustrate the first half of the couplet; a rooster below a beaming sun parallels the night flight of an owl through a city’s star-filled, moonlit sky for the second. The simplicity of the text is significantly enhanced by the soft-toned, complex, and engaging paintings that offer differentiating vistas as the concept of home encompasses the enumerated examples. Some will be obvious in their meaning—“roomy”/“snug,” “floating”/“still,” “far”/“near”—while others will be a bit obscure. All will encourage discussion and analysis. “Forever” versus “on loan” is limned with a turtle opposite a hermit crab. Finally, “Home is anywhere you love” returns to the river scene at night with a depiction of comfort, warmth, and peace as the animals sleep and a window-lit cottage twinkles in the distance. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A subtle, varied, lyrically told exploration of the concept. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews