Castles, Caves, and Honeycombs

February 19, 2001

With glorious acrylic paintings, Stringer (Scarecrow) shows how, in debut author Ashman's words, "A home's a house, a den, a nest./ A place to play,/ A place to rest./ A place to share,/ A place to hug,/ A home is someplace safe and snug" for a wide range of animals (including humans). Using a palette of deep, smudged hues, Stringer works her heady visual magic in two formats. Most of the illustrations are single-paged, womb-shaped vignettes on white backgrounds; in one picture, a beaver family waits in a cozy stick den for the arrival of father beaver, who swims in a swirled arc of blue-green, tree-fringed water that seems to cradle the home. In double-page spreads, the artist renders a monarch butterfly cocoon close-up, its luxuriant ripeness foreshadowing the being about to burst forth; in another, a sinuous, olive-green snail coyly slides away from view, all the better to display the hypnotic allure of its coppery, spiral shell. "There's no place like home" has been said many times and in many ways, but rarely so convincingly. Ages 2-5.

April 1, 2001
PreS-Gr 3-Written in verse, this book looks at the many varied and unique dwellings that different creatures live in: "Many places make a home-/A heap of twigs./A honeycomb./A castle with/a tower or two./An aerie with/a bird's-eye view." The various habitats are described in a well-balanced rhythm, as single-page illustrations move to double-page spreads. The short phrases and rhymes make the text accessible to beginning readers. Because the names of the animals are not mentioned, children can try to identify the creatures that live in each place, adding an element of participation to the story. Done in swirling acrylics, the bright and cheerful art provides visual clues to the text and reinforces the message about homes being "safe and snug." This title can be enjoyed as poetry or paired with Mary Ann Hoberman's A House Is a House for Me (Puffin, 1982) as part of a unit on dwellings.- Maura Bresnahan, Shawsheen School, Andover, MA

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2001
Ages 2-5. Ashman's rhyming verse explores the dwellings of different animals, in a series of short phrases, such as "A silky web./ A sandy dune./ A room inside a warm cocoon." The words roll forward rhythmically, creating a satisfying pattern of sounds as effective as the word pictures of animal homes. Stringer interprets the verse in a series of paintings that echo the cozy reassurance of the text through the repetition of rounded forms and subtly graded shades of color. Each home, whether shell, nest, or den, offers a unique and comforting haven for its inhabitants. Collectively, they offer a vision as cozy as mama raccoon's encircling hug, seen from the end of her hollow log home. Every aspect of the art is curved: the lines themselves, the overall shapes of the pictures, and the path the eye follows in looking at each of the illustrations. The only truly straight lines are found in the typeface and the edges of the pages. The result is a warm, comforting vision of home, extending from the animals in the natural world to the children sleeping in their beds on the last page. Beautifully crafted and satisfying.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)