Review of Houses with a Story, by Seiji Yoshida

Houses with a Story

A Dragon’s Den, a Ghostly Mansion, a Library of Lost Books, and 30 More Amazing Places to Explore

by Seiji Yoshida
translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash

Amulet Books, 2023. Originally published in Japan in 2020. 124 pages.
Review written February 26, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review
2024 Mildred L. Batchelder Award Winner

When this book came in to the library we had quite a discussion with the Cataloging department about where it should be shelved. The houses and buildings pictured are clearly imaginary — but they’re given serious treatment. Pictures and diagrams show how they’re built, with details pointed out on each spread. The book doesn’t tell a story, but it suggests a multiplicity of stories. Someone looking for a novel wouldn’t find it in this book, and in size and style it fits much better with nonfiction. And yet all the buildings are fictional. What to do?

And our head cataloger came to the rescue. It turns out there’s a specific call number — 720.22 — for the architecture of imaginary buildings. Perfect!

I had already dipped into it with delight, and then this book won the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, which is given to books originally published in another country in a language other than English. The award is given to the publisher to encourage them to find international gems like this one.

And the book is so much fun! Most of the imaginary buildings are presented along with their inhabitants, and you get hints of their stories and their lifestyles. On one side of each spread is an exterior view of the building in its landscape. The other side shows a cutaway interior view, with an introduction and arrows to details. There’s often a floor plan as well. Some of the places are “Mischievous Bridge Tower Keeper,” “World-Weary Astronomer’s Residence,” “Reserved Mechanic’s Cottage,” “An Eccentric Botanist’s Laboratory,” “Methodical Witch’s House,” and “Forgotten Orphan’s Castle.” Here’s the short introductory text for that last one:

This old castle has watched over the land through several centuries. Following the loss of its original inhabitants, a lord and lady, the castle was left abandoned and became the target of robbers. Rumor has it an orphan has recently taken up residence there. The lord and lady of the castle had a young child who died, so it is also said that the orphan is actually a ghost.

There are more notes at the back about each place, including where and when it’s intended to be, at least if it’s supposed to be in our world at all.

Check out this book and take some time to pore through it. This book can send your imagination flying. Here’s how the author puts it in his Foreword:

You may find houses that feel as though they’ve come straight from certain books you’ve read in the past, while other abodes may be so peculiar that you’ve never encountered anything like them before, even in your own imagination. The tale you weave for each house is entirely up to you, and nothing would give me greater pleasure than you finding yourself immersed in a wonderful story.

abramsbooks.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Real Dada Mother Goose, by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Julia Rothman

The Real Dada Mother Goose

A Treasury of Complete Nonsense

by Jon Scieszka
illustrated by Julia Rothman

Candlewick Press, 2022. 72 pages.
Review written February 2, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review
A 2023 Capitol Choices Selection

This is truly a treasury of complete nonsense, and who better to provide nonsense than Jon Scieszka?

It’s hard to know where to file this on my page. I don’t have a category for “Imaginative Play.”

What Jon Scieszka does here is take six rhymes from the old classic, The Real Mother Goose, and reworks them in every way you can think of.

For example, he’s got “Humpty Dumpty” in Morse Code, and then in Computer Translation Telephone — showing how a computer translated the original into Spanish, then that into Arabic, that into Chinese, that into Latin, and that back into English. The end result is:

Humpty Dumpty sits on the wall.
Humpty Dumpty fell.
All horses are kings, and all men are kings;
I can’t meddle with Humpty.

Other delights include “Jack Be Nimble in Pig Latin and Esperanto, “Old Mother Hubbard” as a comic strip and with other animals, “Hey Diddle, Diddle” as a recipe, a news article, and a knock-knock joke, “Hickory Dickory Dock” with the clock striking all hours, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” with anagrams, and much, much more.

There are explanations of how to do many of the different variations in the back, along with an explanation of Dadaism.

And the book ends with an invitation:

One, two, buckle my shoe.
Now YOU make these old rhymes new.

Dada Geese writers! Dada Geese friends!
YOU put Humpty together again!

I think I could have had a lot of fun with this book when I was a kid. May it spark imaginations far and wide!

candlewick.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of One Grain of Rice, by Demi

One Grain of Rice

A Mathematical Folktale

by Demi

Scholastic Press, 1997. 36 pages.
Review written May 7, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review
Mathical Hall of Fame

One Grain of Rice was recently chosen for the Mathical Books Hall of Fame, so I thought I should catch up – I missed this one when it was published. Yes, I’ve heard the tale in different versions, so I knew what to expect: a lowly person outwitting an autocrat with the power of exponential growth, asking for one grain of rice the first day, twice as much the next day, and doubling each day for thirty days.

This version has Demi’s exquisite artwork. The lowly person in this story is a clever peasant girl named Rani who devises a plan to feed hungry people. I also like the way the tyrant hoarding rice reforms and everybody’s happy at the end. It’s a picture book, after all.

As for the math – there’s a chart at the back that shows how many grains of rice Rani gets on each of the thirty days, so kids can see the exponential growth. I like the way the story doesn’t pretend that someone counts out each grain (couldn’t be done in a day!), but shows progressively bigger baskets transporting the rice. On the final day, two hundred and fifty-six elephants show up on a giant fold-out page bringing the contents of four royal storehouses.

I’m afraid during a pandemic is an especially good time for kids to have a basic understanding of how exponential growth works. It starts out very small, but can grow to very big if you keep on doubling. This classic book makes the ideas memorable, understandable, and beautiful.

scholastic.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Dark Hedges, Wizard Island, and Other Magical Places That Really Exist, by L. Rader Crandall

Dark Hedges, Wizard Island, and Other Magical Places That Really Exist

by L. Rader Crandall

Running Press Kids (Hachette), Philadephia, 2020. 122 pages.
Review written October 3, 2020, from a library book

What a fun idea! This book tells about thirty-seven places in the world that have legends about them. The author tells the legends as if they actually happened, and who’s to say they didn’t? With each place, there’s at least one photograph.

I was hooked because the book begins with the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, one of my favorite places I ever visited during ten years living in Europe. I’ve only been to four of the other places, but it certainly expanded my list of places I’d like to go.

Here’s an excerpt from the author’s note to the reader at the front of the book:

Take a stroll among the shelves of your local bookshop, search your favorite websites, or download the latest app and you’re bound to discover a trove of helpful travel guides. They will lead you to the finest hotels, tell you which dishes to order in restaurants far and wide, and explain which shops sell the most authentic souvenirs. You’ll find lists of museums acclaimed for their exhibits, maps of city blocks renowned for their architecture, and suggestions of venues famous for their concerts and sports matches. They are all very useful, ideal for the practical traveler.

This is not that sort of book.

Herein lies a guide to our world for fans of the fantastic. On these pages, you’ll find places that seem the stuff of dreams – a remote island where dragons roam, distant shores where giants have battled, ancient castles enchanted by fairies – but that are, in fact, very real. They are places you can actually travel to, destinations you can explore, if only you know the way. Many are steeped in myths and legends from long ago that have been passed down over the centuries, while others have histories more fascinating than fairy tales.

This book may be responsible for giving imaginative kids the travel bug.

runningpress.com/rpkids

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?