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OLD HOUSE,
NEW HOUSE
illustrated by Katherine Potter
Cavendish 2009
(now Amazon’s imprint:
Two Lions Children’s Books)
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| From
the book jacket: |
It’s summer,
and a little girl is excited to
move into an old country house
with a cranberry bog, bullfrog
creek, and farm animals that
live down the road. But when
fall comes, it’s time to pack up
and move again—all the way
across the country to a new
house in a new place with new
friends and new adventures.
Katherine Potter’s heartfelt
illustrations in chalk pastels
complement this emotional
narrative about moving.
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A
little about the book:
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I
moved so many times I lost count!
One of my most memorable times took
place in my 7th year, when we lived
in an old abandoned house in
Jeffersonville, NY, on my
grandfather’s property. The house
had no plumbing, one small electric
line, a well, and an outhouse. We
cooked on a wood stove and hung
sticky fly paper from the ceiling to
catch flies. I bathed in a wash tub.
There was plenty to explore,
including the farm down the road, a
working farm owned by friendly
people who welcomed a curious new 7
year old neighbor. The time, 1949,
could be anytime really, because
about 23 years later, I again lived
in a house with no running water and
a wood stove—and again had to move
in the winter! So this book is truly
my most autobiographical.
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| From
the reviews: |
“Transitioning from one place to
another can be difficult, but this
charming tale can help ease the angst.
This story in rhyme, told in ballad
form…, has a calm lilt to the verse.
The artwork, rendered in chalk
pastels, exudes an aura of childlike
innocence from that ‘perfect’ summer.
This would be a nice read and discuss
tale in the homeschool or classroom
setting. … If you are planning a move,
this is the perfect book to read to
your little ones!” Feathered
Quill Book Reviews.
“After spending the summer in an old
country house, a little girl feels
bereft when her family moves west to a
new house. As the girl and her parents
settle into the rural house without
plumbing, she revels in the cranberry
bog, plays with neighbor kids, picks
berries, bathes in a washtub and has
the ‘very best summer’ ever. But when
summer ends and they leave, she feels
sad parting from the old house and her
friends. She wonders if she will ever
see snow or find a new friend. By
describing her feelings of elation and
sadness in first-person, past-tense
verse, the little girl creates a
nostalgic tone that captures her
idyllic memories of that perfect
summer. Potter’s softly hued
chalk-pastel illustrations spread
across the pages with elegiac images
of the girl drawing well water, lying
by the cranberry bog, picking
blueberries, washing in a galvanized
tub and cavorting with farm animals.
The satisfying and simple verbal and
visual images sustain summer memories
while anticipating life in a new
place. (Picture book. 4-8)” Kirkus.
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