THE HOUSE in the NIGHT
Author: Susan Marie Swanson
IIlustrator: Beth Krommes
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Year of Publication: 2008
Genre: General Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews rating: Horn (3)
Summary: This book is about a girl holding a key to the house and in that house there is a light. In the light, there is a bed and on the bed there is a book. In the book, there is a bird and that is where the adventure starts of the girl flying on the bird and seeing the moon and sun and eventually going back to her bed and falling asleep with a home full of light.
Summary of Professional Reviews: The Kirkus Review explains that this book was inspired by a traditional poem from "The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book". In The Horn Book Review, professionals explain that the phrase "Here is a key to the house". "In the house burns a light" is a soothing bedtime verse. Also, they clarify that the illustrations being mostly black and white and accompanied by a gold color to represent the light from the moon or sun are filling the page with a "gentle light".
Review by Ranim Sankari: In this book, the interesting part of it is the poetic aspect of it. There also seems to a soothing voice that speaks out to you when reading the text because of how the author worded her sentences. For example, "In the light rests a bed. On that bed, lays a book" is a soothing phrase for a bedtime story. This book is great for a bedtime story and the illustrations stand out extremely because of the contrast of black and white and gold accenting each picture on the pages.
This book would be useful when teaching…
- When teaching preschool, this book is great to read to the children before nap time because the phrases provided in the book are very soothing and inviting.
- Reading this book before art class is a great introduction to an art lesson on how to contrast colors like the illustrator, Beth Krommes, did in this book.