A HOME AGAIN
By: Colleen Rowan Kosinski
Illustrated by: Valeria Docampo
Published: November 1, 2021
Publisher: Two Lions
Fiction
A family moves into a brand new house and gives it all kinds of love and memories. Fresh bread is baked, laughter is heard, and children were measured in doorframes. The house was taken care of and loved. But, one day the house was quiet and empty. The family waved goodbye from the sidewalk. The house didn’t understand. Surely the family was coming back.
This is the story of a house that wants to be a home. That wants to be full of love and laughter and memories. When one family leaves, the house becomes sad and angry. When others come to look at the house it creaks and sags and the people leave. The house doesn’t know how to be a home anymore.
One day, two men come by looking at the house. It tries all the tricks to scare them away, but they keep coming back. It creaks and cracks and drips water. But, the men return with paint and tools and the house starts to give in. Soon a truck pulls into the driveway and the house wonders, could I be a home again?
This book reminded me a bit of one of my favorite childhood book, THE LITTLE HOUSE. The story is told from the house’s perspective and in reading this, you could teach your kids the importance of caring for your home like it is part of the family. Keeping it clean, making sure there is laughter, making cookies or bread, and fixing things when they break are all ways to show love back to your home. I believe kids will understand and be excited to make the house feel like a home. Reading this book could also be a great way to then start a discussion about assigning them chores to help care for the house. Even the illustrations make the house the star of the story, focusing on the home’s interior and exterior and less on the people in the house.
The story does have a gay couple and their daughter that move in, but I feel like it is secondary to the story of the house becoming a home again. But, this also offers an opportunity for you to discuss that there are all kinds of ways to be a family including families with different ethnicities or families with the same genders or families with just a mom or a dad, or even a child living with a grandparent. All it takes to make a family is love and all it takes to make a house a home is a family to love it.
Check out the book trailer for A HOME AGAIN:
Colleen Rowan Kosinski is the author-illustrator of Lilla’s Sunflowers and A Promise Stitched in Time. She received her BA from Rutgers University in visual art, is an alumna of Philadelphia’s Moore College of Art, and spent many years as a successful freelance fine artist. Colleen calls New Jersey her home and resides there with her family. Learn more at her website, HERE.
Valeria Docampo has a background in fine arts and has also been a teacher. She is the illustrator of many books for publishers around the world, including La Grande Fabrique de Mots, which has been translated into thirty languages. Originally from Argentina, she now makes her home in France with her family. Learn more at her website, HERE.
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Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to make a purchase through the above links, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase.
Posted Under Book Review, Children's books, Colleen Rowan Kosinski, fiction, LGBTQ, Valeria DoCampo