The Home Builders

December 1, 2018
What will young readers encounter in the peaceful landscape of this picture book?Lush, full-bleed double-page spreads in a predominantly blue, green, and brown palette, executed in a soft mix of media that includes acrylics, colored pencils, and collage, accompany simple poetic text with an abcb rhyme scheme. The words are quiet, meant to convey safety and security. Many of the titular "home builders" appear in the first spread: Tortoises inch along a path, red foxes peek out from hiding, a deer grazes in the background, beavers cavort in the water, a great horned owl snoozes in a tree. The rest--moles, honeybees, and eagles--arrive after the page turn. Bajaj structures her book with questions. "Do you see the homes?" The answer is simple: "Beds in leaf piles, / Dens snug and warm, // Lodges on ponds, / Shelter from storms. // Burrows with rooms, / Beehives and nests, / Each of these homes / Soon will be blessed." (Some may wonder at the word "blessed," but it seems to owe its use more to the rhyme scheme than underlying religiosity.) Babies arrive and, satisfyingly, learn to "work and play." Throughout, Mulazzani prioritizes intimacy over accurate scale or reproduction of animal architecture, offering lovely but sometimes confusing compositions.Whether children are listening in a group or as individuals at home, they will enjoy this book, but the science learning is limited. (Picture book. 3-6)

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February 1, 2019

PreS-Gr 1-While Bajaj's This Is Our Baby, Born Today followed the birth of one elephant, this new offering explores how an array of woodland animals build safe habitats for their babies. Owls, tortoises, ants, foxes, bees, and many other critters make their homes in trees, grass, on ridges, in the water, and underground. Mulazzani uses acrylic colored pencils and collage on paper to create expansive illustrations with pink sky tones, giving readers a sense of calm. Soft dark blue night skies, sparkling with stars, and sleeping animals complete this vision of serenity. The illustrations suggest, rather than attempt a factual representation. A honeycomb-shaped intersection of a beehive appears to be floating in mid-air, but careful inspection will lead to discovery of an attached beehive under a bridge earlier in the book. While sometimes the text and pictures do not entirely connect, the overall impression is that of poetic narrative, interpreted artistically by the illustrator. Simple elegant rhyming words lead readers to learn the names for each animal baby, but not the adult counterpart, suggesting that this picture book is not meant to instruct but rather encourage little ones to immerse themselves in the lush experience. By using the pictures to fill in the missing details, adults and children can explore and interact, creating a conversation prompted each discovery. VERDICT A recommended purchase for large collections seeking gentle nighttime reads about animals, babies, and habitats.-Eva Thaler-Sroussi, Needham Free Public Library, MA

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