Review Musical verse mingles with watercolor and ink illustrations that portray everyday objects in extraordinary ways. Black, white, and Asian children are featured throughout in contemporary, albeit imaginative, settings. The verse begins by describing familiar dwellings for people and animals. “A web is a house for a spider/A bird builds its nest in a tree. Soon, the descriptions become more imaginative. “A husk is a house for a corn ear/A pod is a place for a pea”. Fraser’s detailed pictures keep pace as the verse becomes more abstract. “A throat is a house for a hum . . .” Grounding the outlandish dwelling suggestions is the recurring line, “A house is a house for me”, which provides cadence and structure just when the verse begins to careen out of control. Children will lose themselves in the illustrations and will enjoy time alone with this book, even before they can read. The book is timeless. Themes Stories in Verse, Dwellings, Humor Application This is the perfect companion to a first or second grade curriculum. Teachers can use the concepts for writing exercises in compare and contrast or descriptive sentences. It can also be used in a literature lesson on making text-to-world connections. Although the book is catalogued as fiction, it offers non-fiction concepts such as habitats and dwellings, which could be used to support Common Core Standards. Read-alikes
Baker, Jeannie. Home Pinkwater, David. The Big Orange Splot Rylant, Cynthia. Let’s Go Home: The Wonderful Things About a House Author Website: http://www.maryannhoberman.com/index.html References Birdsall, A. (n.d.). Books about homes and houses [book list]. Retrieved from http://www.familyreading.org/great-ideas/read-aloud-book-lists/books-about-homes-and-houses/ House is a House for Me [cover image]. Retrieved from http://www.maryannhoberman.com/images/books/house_cov.jpg House is a House for Me [image]. Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ac/0d/28/ac0d2876e919d94865b4f94157b26a50.jpg Teacher Vision. (n.d.). Prior knowledge: A house is a house for me [lesson plan]. Retrieved from https://www.teachervision.com/lesson/prior-knowledge-house-house-me TitleWave. Retrieved from http://titlewave.com
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