Home Is Where the Birds Sing

by Cynthia Rylant, Katie Harnett (Illustrator)

Overview

A beautiful and poignant meditation on what makes a home from Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant.

There are so many things, both big and small, that make a place feel like home. Home is where you might have a special nickname or a special toy. It’s where you might have a snack or a nap or a bath—or all three! Whether home is a city apartment or a country cottage, it’s a place you want to return to again and again. Celebrate all kinds of homes—and all kinds of families—in this cozy, lushly illustrated ode to the universal feeling of being at home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534449589
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	05/17/2022
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD360L (what's this?)
File size:	40 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 Months to 8 Years

About the Author

Cynthia Rylant is the author of more than 100 books for young people, including the beloved Henry and Mudge, Annie and Snowball, Brownie & Pearl, Motor Mouse, and Mr. Putter & Tabby series. Her novel Missing May received the Newbery Medal. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Katie Harnett is an award-winning illustrator and author who is based in Sheffield, England. She has written and illustrated three picture books, is the illustrator of the Franklin’s Flying Bookshop series written by Jen Campbell, and illustrates book covers and older fiction.

Editorial Reviews

03/14/2022

What makes a place a home? As Rylant (We Give Thanks) and Harnett (Monty and the Poodles) take readers through differing dwellings, highly specific particulars blend with a sense of reverie, evoking feelings of connection and belonging. In one spread, lines of plainspoken poetry read, “Home is where someone calls you ‘sweetie’ or ‘dear’ or a dozen other names for love.” Lovingly detailed gouache and colored pencil vignettes, meanwhile, place readers in a light-filled kitchen, where something is cooking in a big orange pot, goodies sit on a side table, and an intergenerational duo beam at one another. A few pages later, attending a lullaby-like litany, the illustrations survey a couple of beloved objects (a globe, a stuffed bear) and a cozy bedroom: “Home is where everything waits for you// waits for you.” Throughout, images show families and friend groups of varying abilities, ages, body types, and skin tones engaging in daily rituals. Sensations, people, and things constitute a sense of place, one that is all the more profound, this creative pair hints, when that place is home—“where your own story starts.” Ages up to 8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

06/10/2022

K-Gr 2—Home is a word that is loaded with many meanings. Rylant has written a text that notices, celebrates, and welcomes readers to define what home means to them. With a diverse cast throughout the book, she drives home the central theme: the power of home is to nourish us, welcome us, and then to send us out into the world. The illustrations feature engaging, detailed scenes of rooms in a muted palette that amplify and enliven the text. Readers will find their worlds reflected within these scenes and move on naturally to the concept of what home means to them. VERDICT Welcoming and affirming, this title makes room for the many ways home is more than physical shelter; this is certain to be a foundation for lively story hour discussions.—John Scott

School Library Journal