This House, Once

by Deborah Freedman, Deborah Freedman (Illustrator)

Overview

“Tender, comforting, and complex.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Drawn with exquisite precision and quiet dashes of humor.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A lovely, ruminative selection.” —School Library Journal (starred review)
“A blueprint for mindfulness and gratitude for the homes in which we…live.” —The New York Times Book Review

Deborah Freedman’s masterful new picture book is at once an introduction to the pieces of a house, a cozy story to share and explore, and a dreamy meditation on the magic of our homes and our world.

Before there was this house,
there were stones,
and mud,
and a colossal oak tree—
three hugs around
and as high as the blue.

What was your home, once?

This poetically simple, thought-provoking, and gorgeously illustrated book invites readers to think about where things come from and what nature provides.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481442855
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	02/28/2017
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	49 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Deborah Freedman was an architect once, but now she builds houses and worlds in picture books for children. She lives in Connecticut, in a colorful house near woods, a muddy river, and a large rock ridge. You can learn more about Deborah and her books—including Blue Chicken; The Story of Fish & Snail; Shy; and This House, Once—at DeborahFreedman.net.

Editorial Reviews

…dreamy…Freedman…is not offering us a plan for some future home…Instead the book is a blueprint for mindfulness and gratitude for the homes in which we already live.

The New York Times Book Review - Rowboat Watkins

★ 11/21/2016
Freedman (Shy) lyrically meditates on the origins of a house. “This door was once a colossal oak tree about three hugs around and as high as the blue,” she writes, opposite a spare, clean drawing of a door against a white backdrop. A page turn reveals the giant oak, the door traced within its trunk to show where it used to be. The stones that make the house’s foundation “were once below, underground, deep asleep,” and readers see a cross-section of the ground the stones were dug from. While the house takes shape, a kitten, frog, and yellow bird play as the leaves fall; fog overtakes them, and gray wash and muted textures herald the arrival of winter. The door opens, and readers join the kitten indoors: “Lights, doorknob, bookshelf, under-the-stair... What were these all, once?” Freedman’s gentle inquiry is drawn with exquisite precision and quiet dashes of humor, and it will leave children thinking about the way their own houses are an extension of the natural world, with “memories” of the resources used to bring them into existence. Ages 4–8. Agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Deborah Freedman's dreamy "This House, Once"...is not offering us a plan for some future home.... Instead the book is a blueprint for mindfulness and gratitude for the homes in which we already live. With the wooziness that comes from sitting close to a fire, and in a whisper of colors that have the hypnotic allure of bruises, Freedman deconstructs and rebuilds her toasty house...so long as the embers of Freedman's incantation continue to glow, I'm in no rush."

The New York Times Book Review

A Spring 2017 Kids' Indie Next List pick: "Inspired Recommendations for Kids from Indie Booksellers"

From the Publisher

"Combining lyrical language and cozy mixed-media artwork, Freedman celebrates the elements of the natural world (oak, stones, mud, rocks, and sand) used in the construction of a house.... Dreamy and imaginative."

November 2016 Booklist

★ 01/01/2017
PreS-Gr 2—In a story that's more poetic than technical, select pieces of a home are highlighted to emphasize the idea that a house remembers. A domicile is constructed with natural elements that began as something much different. "This door was once a colossal oak tree about three hugs around and as high as the blue." The images start simply, with mostly white space and three or four lines of prose. The next spread illustrates the previous page's text with softly muted blues, purples, and oranges and lightly placed lines. This pattern continues until the middle of the book, where the visuals and text combine. The pages become more crowded and rich with color, proclaiming that a house remembers and bringing the tale full circle with the conclusive phrase, "which once was an oak." If readers look closely, they will also notice a cute kitten and/or a bright contrasting red doorknob in most of the illustrations and a change in seasons. Freedman has created a cozy offering to share that will spark curiosity. Conversations centered on questions such as, "How was our house made?," "Where did the various materials come from?," and "What function does it serve?" between a caregiver and child will carry on the ideas presented in this title long after it has been set down. VERDICT A lovely, ruminative selection, best shared one-on-one or in a small group setting.—Mindy Hiatt, Salt Lake County Library Services

School Library Journal

★ 2016-11-16
Softly, poetically, an unseen narrator explores a house and what it is made of.A small wooden door with a red doorknob sits in the middle of white space. "This door was once a colossal oak tree / about three hugs around / and as high as the blue." Next, on a full-bleed double-page spread, the door appears as part of its original oak, which sits in purple grasses, reaching through clouds to the sky. Bricks—made from mud—appear around the door, and the next spread takes readers to a large, tempting mud puddle, a turtle happily a-wallow, a frog at play, a kitten dipping paws in. "This roof was once rock, / carved and cleft // and shingled to shelter // from gray wet"—a humble, elegant sheet of slates hovers above the in-process house (which still sits in white space), and on the following spread, downy mists of pale indigo-pink highlight the small turtle, frog, kitten, and bird outdoors in the "gray wet." Using pencil (both gray and colored), watercolor, and pastel—all with a supreme delicacy—Freedman builds this house until, behind swirls and flurries of an opaque snowstorm, a light-skinned child inside the house welcomes the kitten in. The arc emphasizes shelter but also human use of nature, so the feelings of warmth, safety, and coziness hold the faintest tinge of melancholy and loss. Tender, comforting, and complex. (author's note) (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews