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Ellis begins “Home” by presenting a variety of homes and mentioning the types of creatures to inhabit them. if my children were younger we would have loved to sit and look at this and decide which one we liked best and who we thought would live in each one.
She also cleverly shows you how the very same home can look quite different, as with her comparison of a “clean” home versus a “messy” home. We liked the way some homes were real and some like the Moonian's house and the home of the Norse god were fantasy.At some point, Ellis does switch to fanciful imagery and homes that are under the sea, in tree hollows. Still, this is a worthy first endeavor, and I look forward to seeing what Ellis does in her second picture-book, the recently released Du Iz Tak? As a debut, I found Ellis' concept of what home means to different people a powerful and thought-provoking discussion.
I liked the whimsical story about the many different homes that exist--both real and fantastical--but it was the art that took my breath away. Uniquely, “Home” then takes turn showing the interior of homes versus the exterior and then switching it up yet again by presenting homes (even fantasy ones) which engage a child’s creativity by asking who lives in them. For instance, there is a young dark skinned girl sitting in an apartment building that is covered in graffiti, the illustration for "Some homes are wigwams" have Indigenous people with bows and arrows, followed by a palace and an underground lair in which Arab, possible Muslim, characters are smoking as they stack gold coins and there is a woman reclining on a pile of gold --as if she is a possession. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance. And it doesn’t just cover the habitats of people: for example, one page shows the home of a raccoon, and one shows the home of a Norse god.I don't know what it was about it (something about the shape of the lines maybe) but I could honestly look at it all day; I want to frame it and put it on my wall. From houses in the country to apartments in the city, from living underwater to living on the road, a diverse range of homes is profiled here: identified in simple statements, and depicted in lovely folk-art illustrations.
Others are uncomfortable stereotypes, and should be discussed at length with your child while reading together. It was disappointing to see an apartment being depicted as in the city amongst pollution and graffiti, which read (to me) as less desirable than many of the other homes. This book looks at different types of homes and while I did appreciate that the reader is invited to guess/wonder at who might reside in a few of the homes, I felt limited by some of the other homes.
Carson Ellis, an illustrator known for her work on her musician/author husband Colin Meloy's album covers and novels, makes her solo debut with this picture-book, which profiles a variety of homes, realistic and imaginary. Influential artist Carson Ellis makes her solo picture-book debut with a whimsical tribute to the many possibilities of home. Although “Home” is intended for small children; the author and illustrator Carson Ellis is known amongst adults as the wife of Colin Meloy, lead singer of the band, The Decemberists.