Clancy & Millie and the Very Fine House

by Libby Gleeson, Freya Blackwood (Illustrator)

Overview

Clancy has just moved. He is missing his old house terribly—the new house is much too big and much too lonely—and he wonders how he will ever make it his home. With the help of his new friend Millie, Clancy builds towers to the sky and trains to the street outside, and together they build the home that Clancy thought he had lost forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781760126681
Publisher:	Hardie Grant Children's Publishing
Publication date:	09/28/2016
Series:	Little Hare Classics
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.10(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood have been nominated for CBCA awards for their past three books. Maudie and Bear won Picture Book of the Year for Younger Readers in 2012, Clancy & Millie and The Very Fine House was nominated for the same award in 2010, and again this year for Banjo and Ruby Red. Freya Blackwood is also a Kate Greenaway medalist.

Editorial Reviews

Australians Gleeson and Blackwood, who previously collaborated on Half a World Away, portray with sensitivity a small boy's ambivalence about moving to a new house. "‘It's a very fine dwelling,' says Clancy's father. ‘It's too big,' whispers Clancy." Blackwood exaggerates the building's imposing exterior and its rooms, with towering walls, windows that seem miles away, and chilly gray expanses of floor, emphasizing the enormity of the move for Clancy. Smaller insets picture the family's old house: "Clancy remembers the skylight and the moon." When Millie, a neighbor, finds Clancy sitting moodily in a moving box, the two begin a game of Three Little Pigs: "his is my house of bricks and the big bad wolf can't come in," Clancy explains, piling moving boxes high. Blackwood signals their seriousness and Clancy's changing feelings by drawing the house they construct on the same monumental scale as those that surround it. "It's a very fine dwelling," Clancy says, surveying its teetering, sky-high turrets. Though the story deals with a particular childhood dilemma, Clancy's feelings are conveyed with a dignity that should appeal to a wide audience. Ages 3–6. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Outstanding illustrations . . . A great choice for reading to a group or sharing one-on-one."  —School Library Journal starred review



"Though the story deals with a particular childhood dilemma, Clancy's feelings are conveyed with a dignity that should appeal to a wide audience." —Publishers Weekly starred review



"Written and illustrated with sensitivity and flair, this large-format picture book will resonate with other children who have felt out of place in new surroundings." —Booklist



"Fanciful and reassuring, this quietly charming Australian import examines universal experiences and emotions. . . . Cozy and sweetly empathetic." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 2—Young Clancy moves with his parents from their small suburban home to a much larger house in a different neighborhood. He finds the rooms too expansive and the view at night from his window "too big." His mother and father think that "It's a very fine dwelling." While hiding in one of the many moving boxes outside, Clancy hears a friendly voice that coaxes him out. Millie wants to join him, and together they configure boxes into towers and trains, and play out the story of "The Three Little Pigs." Clancy declares the third house an impressive superstructure, "a very fine dwelling." Gleeson's text captures the boy's emotions as he adjusts to the change and makes a new friend. Blackwood's outstanding illustrations use laser print from the scans of pencil drawings, watercolors, and gouache on the backs of large brown envelopes. Muted browns and grays are juxtaposed with bright reds and oranges for the clothing and children's features. Perspective provides depth and compassion. In one of many insets, Clancy and his toy dog sit in their "cubby house" underneath the kitchen table in his old home and share the spread with a long view of the large new kitchen. Another spread features an aerial view of the neighborhood and a train made of the boxes winding around the yard. Cloud images in shapes of pigs follow Clancy through the story. A great choice for reading to a group or sharing one-on-one.—Anne Beier, Clifton Public Library, NJ

School Library Journal