Everybody's Welcome

by Patricia Hegarty (Author) Greg Abbott (Illustrator)

Everybody's Welcome
Reading Level: K − 1st Grade
Fans of the New York Times bestseller All Are Welcome will love this a adorable and timely tale about opening a door to those in need, with clever peek-through holes and panoramic pages that beckon young readers inside. Poor Frog's pond has dried up and he has nowhere to live. Luckily, he meets friendly Mouse, who is just starting to build a new house. "Everybody's welcome, no matter who they are," explains Mouse. "Wherever they may come from, whether near or far." As Frog and Mouse build a house together, they meet more animals without a place to live. Soon, they all join in to build a big, beautiful home where everyone is welcome, safe, and warm. In this sweet forest setting, children will learn how important it is to extend a generous hand to those in need, whether neighbors in crisis, a friend with a problem, or a family immigrating to a new country. It's a timely, vital, and comforting story that will inspire useful conversations about caring, charity, and empathy.
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Hardcover
$16.99

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Kirkus

Forest animals join forces to build a house where they can live together in harmony in this rhyming story with a retro vibe.

A cheerful mouse kicks off the building project with welcoming, outstretched arms on the title page. The mouse consoles a homeless frog, and they begin gathering sticks to build their new home. They are joined by other animals who need shelter, including rabbits, a bear, a fox, and birds. The animals use tools and boards to build their group home, which is never shown fully in the illustrations, and their construction efforts are rather confusing, as what they are actually building is hard to discern. The singsong rhyming text is earnest and peppy, proclaiming that in this new home, “life will be so sweet.” Soft-focus illustrations with a muted palette feature appealing animals with large eyes and expressive faces, and there are some amusing scenes as the group works together. The creative design includes pages of varying widths and die-cut windows on the cover and concluding spread. One illustration with a rainy setting has the text block set against dark, gray clouds, rendering the words almost unreadable.

Jolly animals and an intriguing page design are welcome attributes, but the lackluster text and absence of a clear conclusion to the building project make this a less than sturdy effort overall. (Picture book. 3-6)
Patricia Hegarty
Patricia Hegarty began working in children's publishing more years ago than she cares to remember! As an editor she has worked on titles ranging from atlases to animal pop-ups, craft kits to crazy mazes, and sticker books to secret diaries.

Dean Gray is based in South London and completed a BA in graphic design at Leeds Art University before working as a creative designer for Advocate Art illustration Agency. He now works as a freelance author/illustrator for children's books. Dean has a humorous character-driven approach to his work, and is passionate about storytelling and creating a character or world that someone can have an emotional connection with. He takes a lot of inspiration from browsing book shops, traveling, and studying the art of animation and sci-fi, as well as anything to do with character design.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781524771652
Lexile Measure
520
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Doubleday Books for Young Readers
Publication date
October 23, 2018
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039060 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship
JUV039250 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emigration & Immigration
JUV002000 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | General
Library of Congress categories
Stories in rhyme
Forest animals
Home
Building
Belonging (Social psychology)

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