The+House+in+the+Night

//**Book Review by Christina Kowalski**//  In this Caldecott Medal winning book, the reader will find a very simple and calming plot. It begins with a key to a house, then brings the reader inside the house and continues to grow in detail and depth about objects within objects. For example, it takes you from outside of the house to inside the house. Then it takes you to a room in the house and a book in the room. Then, it takes you to a bird in that book and a song in the bird, and so on and so forth. It seems to focus its plot around the idea of light. Its images are mostly black and white except for a few objects in the images which the illustrator accented with a bright gold color that represents this light theme. After the book takes you deeper and deeper into the house and the objects in the house (as I was explaining before) the author then reverses the order and mentions the same things in the opposite order.
 * __B __**** __ibliographic information: __ **
 * Written By [|Susan Marie Swanson]
 * Illustrated by [|Beth Krommes]
 * ISBN-13: 9780618862443
 * Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
 * Publication date: 5/5/2008
 * Pages: 40
 * Grade Level: prek-1 (Age range: 2 - 8 Years)
 * __Summary: __**

You can get a brief glimpse of the structure of this children’s book through the summary I have provided. It was a very interesting and different writing style than what many readers, especially young readers are used to. It focuses on sequence, taking the reader deeper and deeper into the story. As it builds, it gives the reader an interesting perspective of where the house is in relation to the universe. It almost seems that this writing style was meant to encourage the reader to explore the concept of perspective. The way that it was written increased the effectiveness of this concept. By using short, simple phrases, the author was able to draw the reader’s attention more towards the aspect of perspective, that it seems she was trying to address, and less towards any specific plot or lesson. It was also interesting to see that as the setting got more complex, so did the books meaning. It goes from simply explaining the contents of a house to the more complex ideas related to the moon and the sun.
 * __Analysis of a Literary Element: __**

Although I thought this book took a very different approach to children’s literature and forced its readers to consider a different perspective, I felt that it might be a little difficult for young children to follow. Even though the sentences were short and simple, it almost seemed at times as if a little more explanation was needed to really get the readers point across. For example, when the author starts talking about the moon and the sun, the clarity of her meaning seems to blur a little. As a twenty year old, I found myself having to reread it a few times to understand that segment from the book a little better. This aspect in itself made me believe that this book may be a little confusing to youngsters. On the other hand, this author’s different writing style was interesting and somehow had a calming effect on her reader. I found that in addition to the simple phrases that it consisted of. The darker images with simple touches of gold coloring gave off a mellower vibe and aligned with the book’s nighttime theme.
 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Review: __**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Susan Marie Swanson is a poet and picture book author. She has written many children’s books including, //To Be Like the Sun// and //The First Thing My Momma Told Me.// She is most well known for her compilation of poems in her published collection called //Getting Used to the Dark.// She holds, an MFA in poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and many honors including: a poetry fellowship from the Bush Foundation, and fellowships in poetry and in children’s literature from the McKnight Foundation <span style="color: #342020; font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">.
 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">About the Author: __**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Listen to this book read aloud to you at: <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">[]
 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Related Links: __**