This House, That Hosue

You Lived Here: Houses of the World Written & Illustrated by Giles Laroche
Published by: Houghton Mifflin HarcourtCopyright 2011
30 pages
Multi-Cultural

               Who wouldn’t love a book about houses? This book’s title alone gave me an instant spark of interest. I loved the Italian style seaside drawing on the cover of the book as well. I like seeing different things from around the world and it’s really neat to see how other people live, and how their homes differ from ours here in America. While this book was interesting, it was very simple and straightforward. From the beginning to the end with every flip of the page, the writer presents a great illustration and then describes the type of house that it is. He always says,” If you lived here,” as the introduction to the rest of the paragraph. The authors writing style is very simple as well. The easy to read descriptions of the houses are very detailed and informative. The book does become a little bit boring towards the end. Actually, on the last two pages, I looked at the pictures longer than I actually read about the houses. While this book was very readable and immediately intriguing, it didn’t exactly live up to the expectations that I had initially had for it.

                As I mentioned before, the illustrations are the best part of this book. The illustrator draws and paints all of his pictures.  He makes a collage of all the pictures by cutting and pasting them together. Every house in every picture contained distinct detail. I am certain that Laroche spent much time studying these actual houses in order to paint them so elegantly. Along with plain green end paper, Laroche uses two strips of paper with information about the book. These papers look as if you or I cut them out and pasted them there. This is a common technique that authors are now using. It is an effective way to let the reader know some short piece of important information that will give them a desire to read farther.

               A teacher could use this book in any classroom. This book is very informational. Under each paragraph or story that tells about the house is an interesting set of information. The teacher could use the information in numerous ways. The students could choose their favorite house, and use the underlying information to write about it. In lower grade levels, the teacher could let each student choose their favorite house, and let them illustrate it themselves. Older elementary grade levels could do the same and then fill in the same fun information that the book has about the house they created.