Hi Everyone!
Welcome back to Perfect Picture Book Friday!
I have a wonderful book to share today that I hope you will all really enjoy!
(Also, as a totally unrelated aside, I am hacking my way through working with the new version of wordpress and pretty much have no idea what I’m doing, so I hope everything will look and work the way it’s supposed to!)
Title: Home In The Woods
Written & Illustrated By: Eliza Wheeler
Nancy Paulsen Books, October 2019, fiction
Suitable For Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: making the best of things, family, the meaning of home, history (Great Depression)
Opening: “This is my family.
Marv (8), Rich (10), Ray (14), Mum (34), Eva (3 mo), Bea (12), Dal (2), Lowell (4), and me (Marvel, 6)”
Dad lives with the angels now,
and we need to find a new home.”
Brief Synopsis: After Dad dies during the Great Depression, Marvel, her mum, and her 7 siblings make their way to a new home – a tar paper shack deep in the woods of Wisconsin. At first it doesn’t feel like home, but as the seasons pass, the family starts to see what could be. They find great joy in being together, discovering the blessings of this new place, and slowly the little shack begins to feel like a home – warm, bright, and full of love.
Links To Resources: An author’s note at the end gives the family history that the story is based upon; draw a picture of your family; ask your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to tell you the stories of their childhoods; try writing them down as stories or poems; write your own childhood story 😊
Why I Like This Book: This book is based on the true story of the author’s grandmother’s childhood, and gives a glimpse of some of the challenges faced by families during the Great Depression in a way that is sensitive, loving, and filled with hope. The sense of family comes through so strongly – the way they all pull together to do what they can and make the best of things, from figuring out how to make delicious meals from whatever they could gather to making up their own games and stories in a home where there were no toys or books. The book beautifully illustrates how much can be accomplished with optimism, working together, inventiveness, and a sense of purpose. The text is spare and poetic, and the watercolor illustrations are lovely. An uplifting story all ages will enjoy!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 😊
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 😊
Susanna Leonard Hill 
What a beautiful story about families during the Great Depression. I love the gorgeous illustrations. I’m seeing this theme in many books. I just reviewed a MG novel with a similar theme and a family moving to a wooded area and building a home.
It’s so beautifully done, Pat. And it reminds me a little of Little House In The Big Woods 😊
Wow! I need to read this book. Historical, which you can just feel by glancing at the cover. Fascinating, and a real story to be shared. Thanks for sharing.
I love the suggestion to mine your own family for history and stories too, Angie. So true that our older relatives have experiences to share that are so different to what occurs today!
I read this one last spring, and I agree that it’s a perfect picture book as we all focus on home & family.
Happy Day! So happy to have you back, Susanna. Hope the summer has many moments of sunshine and joy.
And what a beautiful book you’ve recommended…the cover is so inviting!
What a marvelous picture book! I haven’t read it, but am going to hunt down a copy. It sounds like a story for our times: how to make our time with family be joy-filled.
So love the feel of this book! Can’t wait to get a copy!
Welcome back! So good to see you here, again! I love this book! I just finished reading a MG about the Dust Bowl midst the Depression. So very moving, with families struggling to survive. This book really shows how kids often take subtle cues on how to persevere and make the best of things, because they are willing to do so.
What a great book to start off with. I love the illustrations and the message that is so relevant now. Looking forward to looking at it again. Welcome back Susanna!
Love this concept!
Susanna, love this sort of story. Ingenuity, perseverance, positivity, family. What a perfect book for children and adults right now. And the illustrations are amazing!
Thanks for sharing this title. Looks to me like you have the new WordPress figured out perfectly 🙂
Susanna, What a perfect start to Perfect Picture Book Friday! Love the concept of family!
Thanks so much for sharing this! 🙂
PS looks like you have perfectly mastered WordPress too!
We own this book and love it!