Home Is a Window

by Stephanie Ledyard, Chris Sasaki (Illustrator)

Overview

A family learns what home really means, as they leave one beloved residence and make a new home in another.

A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People

Home can be many things—a window, a doorway, a rug . . . or a hug. At home, everything always feels the same: comfortable and safe.

But sometimes things change, and a home must be left behind.

Follow a family as they move out of their beloved, familiar house and learn that they can bring everything they love about their old home to the new one, because they still have each other. This heartfelt picture book by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard is richly illustrated by former Pixar animator Chris Sasaki.

A BookPage Best Book of the Year
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823441563
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	04/23/2019
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	496,959
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Stephanie Parsley Ledyard is a writer, poet, and teacher. She received an MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Stephanie's first picture book, Pie Is for Sharing, illustrated by Jason Chin, was published in 2018 to wide acclaim, receiving four starred reviews. She lives in Dallas, Texas, with her family. You can find her online at stephanieledyard.com

Chris Sasaki is an illustrator and art director living in Oakland, California. Formerly, he worked at Pixar, where he did character design on Monsters University and Inside Out. Chris was also the production designer for the Oscar-nominated short film Weekends. His illustrations for Julie Leung's Paper Son won the Dilys Evans Founder Award, celebrating the year's most promising new talent. Chris has worked for animation studios like Jim Henson, Laika, and Tonko House, and his work has appeared in The New York Times and the Society of Illustrators annual. Visit his website at csasaki.com

Editorial Reviews

Ledyard's words hit every right note; Sasaki's illustrations are earthy and enchanting.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

02/25/2019

A smiling girl and her dog gaze out a city dwelling’s window on the cover of this reassuring, lyrical story. Dinnertime with her extended mixed-race community underscores the reassurance of home (“Home is a table/ with something good/ and the people gathered there”) and of family (“Home is washing,/ rinsing and drying,/ and whenever a dish gets broken,/ someone to help you sweep”). Ledyard (Pie Is for Sharing) and Sasaki, once a Pixar animator, shift the tale’s trajectory when a page turn reveals a living room filled with packing boxes. The following day, the girl, her brother, their parents, and their hound move to a sunlit suburban house, where they again find solace in togetherness as they picnic on the floor. At story’s close, the girl and dog look out from another window, appreciating a new version and vision of home. Ledyard’s extemporaneous text leaves wide berth for kids to amplify and personalize the story—as does Sasaki’s whimsical, tranquil digital art, which features an amalgam of patterns and geometric shapes. Emphasizing the comfort of the familiar and the promise of new beginnings, this book provides a conversation prompt for families making a move. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

★ "Ledyard offers a meditation of sorts on the sense of comfort and belonging that home should evoke, whether it’s a place we know well or a new home to which we’ve just moved. . . . With a style that recalls the work of Jon Klassen and Christian Robinson (while still his own), Sasaki offers a rich interpretation of Ledyard’s spare, poetic text." —The Horn Book Magazine, Starred Review

"Ledyard's ('Pie Is for Sharing') words hit every right note; Sasaki's illustrations are earthy and enchanting."—The New York Times Book Review

"Ledyard’s extemporaneous text leaves wide berth for kids to amplify and personalize the story—as does Sasaki’s whimsical, tranquil digital art, which features an amalgam of patterns and geometric shapes. Emphasizing the comfort of the familiar and the promise of new beginnings, this book provides a conversation prompt for families making a move."—Publishers Weekly

"In gentle, rhythmic prose, Ledyard describes home in myriad ways . . . Sasaki's rough-hewn illustrations in pencil and marker are cleverly backgrounded with white (to provide focus) and dark space (to evoke melancholy). And his earth-toned, muted palette pairs beautifully with Ledyard's spare text and the story's slow, languid pace. . . . This sweet, emotionally perceptive book will help make any transition from old to new less scary."—Kirkus Reviews
 
"This heartwarming story about  family and moving will show readers the true meaning of home: the people you share it with. A poignant tale sure to help many children deal with the change that moving brings, but recommended for all."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2019

PreS-Gr 2—Home can be many things—a window, a doorway, a rug, or one more game of hide-and-seek before bath. Home is a book before you fall asleep, a little bit of green, a special corner, and a cozy chair. Perhaps even more so, home is safe and warm, and what feels the same each day. But sometimes things change, and when a familiar home is left behind, a family soon discovers that a new house in a new place can also become a home. In this new space, home is a window, sunlight, a corner for your toys, and, most important, "the people gathered near" who, after all, are what make any house a home. The latest picture book by Ledyard, author of the critically acclaimed Pie Is for Sharing, is beautifully illustrated by Pixar animator Sasaki. Ledyard's sweet text describing home pairs seamlessly with Sasaki's rich and detailed illustrations, which further show all that home can be. This heartwarming story about family and moving will show readers the true meaning of home: the people you share it with. VERDICT A poignant tale sure to help many children deal with the change that moving brings, but recommended for all.—Elizabeth Blake, Brooklyn Public Library

School Library Journal