Building Our House

by Jonathan Bean (Author) Jonathan Bean (Illustrator)

Building Our House
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
In this unique construction book for kids who love tools and trucks, readers join a girl and her family as they pack up their old house in town and set out to build a new one in the country. Full color.
Select format:
Hardcover
$21.99

Publishers Weekly

Not unlike Dan Yaccarino did in All the Way to America, Bean (At Night) turns family history into something larger, in this case a romantic portrait of the rewards of diligence, teamwork, and a DIY mentality. In a concluding note accompanied by family photos, Bean explains that the story is based on his family's experience of building a farmhouse when he was a toddler. A sense of familial dedication and cohesiveness fills the pages, with narration coming from a character modeled after Bean's older sister. The pale, matte illustrations are a flurry of activity (and filled with the sort of construction details that children adore), as the family equips a trailer to serve as temporary digs, buys lumber, builds a foundation, hosts a frame-raising party, and eventually turns to interior work. Bean's pictures provide a supplementary visual narrative (Mom becomes pregnant, an infant appears), and the father offers suitably dadlike truisms like "The right tool for the right job" throughout. A warm look at the nuts and bolts of building a house and turning it into a home. Ages 3-6. Agent: Anna Webman, Curtis Brown. (Jan.)

Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Starred Review

PreS-Gr 2--A year-and-a-half-long adventure of building a cozy home in the countryside involves an entire family of four. The oldest child describes the construction of the house, expertly shown in appealing soft-colored illustrations that vary in size from full spreads to small vignettes. Water and electricity are shown being connected to a temporary home in a trailer so the family can live on the property while the work is being done. Friends and family help out from time to time during the creation of the small timber-frame home, but the girl's parents perform the majority of work on their own (a third child arrives in the course of the story). Engaging pictures are reminiscent of Lisa Campbell Ernst's charming illustrations and are based on the building of the author/illustrator's childhood home. An author's note includes Bean's family photographs. Lovingly told, this captivating tale will help satisfy a child's curiosity of what it takes to create a building from scratch.--Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Starred Review, "The Horn Book", January/February 2013 issue:

"Bean creates an engaging story as well as a glimpse into a warm family setting." — "The Horn Book"

Starred Review, "Kirkus", December 1, 2012:

"Raise the roof for this picture book. It's something special." — "Kirkus", starred review

Review, Publishers Weekly

"A warm look at the nuts and bolts of building a house and turning it into a home."—"Publishers Weekly"

Review, "Booklist", January 1, 2013

"What's heartwarming throughout is the depiction of a tight-knit family ("My family makes up a strong crew of four")." —" Booklist"

Jonathan Bean
JONATHAN BEAN received an M.F.A. from New York's School of Visual Arts and now lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A two-time winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, for At Night and Building Our House, he is also the illustrator of Big Snow, two picture books by Lauren Thompson, and Bad Bye, Good Bye by Deborah Underwood.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780374380236
Lexile Measure
640
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
Publication date
January 08, 2013
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV003000 - Juvenile Fiction | Art & Architecture
JUV013000 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | General
JUV024000 - Juvenile Fiction | Lifestyles | Country Life
Library of Congress categories
Families
Family life
Building
House construction
Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards
Winner 2013 - 2013
Charlotte Zolotow Award
Honor Book 2014 - 2014
Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens
Recommended 2014 - 2014
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award
Nominee 2015 - 2015
Monarch Award
Nominee 2016 - 2016

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