Let's Build a House

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-- Dorinda and her family are building a house on their favorite seaside lot in this beautifully illustrated story about the construction process. As Dorinda observes her house being built, she tells young readers about the tools and techniques involved, including digging a well, pouring foundations, and painting the exterior. However, since the house is painted red, the book's subtitle, ``A White Cottage Before Winter'' will confuse readers even after they learn that ``Sometimes changes are made while a house is being built.'' Many difficult words are not fully explained in the text, and Flint's illustration of a dormer window appears on the page before its description. The watercolor illustrations overlap the edges of each page and include lots of details for young eyes to find. As the emerging house begins to fill the page, the colors progress from cool blues, greens, and tan to warmer reds and yellows that seem to signal the warmth of a loving family ready to enjoy their new home. Gail Gibbons's How a House Is Built (Holiday, 1990) offers similar, and frequently more understandable, facts about house construction, but shouldn't be compared to this one for charm and intimacy. --Jeanette Larson, Mesquite Public Library, TX