Picture Book: Building Our House
Author & Illustrator: Jonathan Bean
Summary: This is such a wonderfully detailed picture book
about the process in which the author’s parents build his childhood home. Living
the life of homesteaders, they use traditional construction techniques and involve
even the youngest child in a manner that is intriguing and delightful. Readers get
to see each of the numerous and exhausting steps, beginning with their arrival in
an overloaded truck at a weedy field to their eventual collapse onto their
couch in the newly finished home. Friends and family pitch in when needed, but
mostly this is a 4-person family affair with mother and father Bean starring as
the heroes of their son’s loving retelling of what must have been an invaluable
childhood experience.
Hanna’s Comments: I was most fascinated by the way the Bean family built the
foundation of their home. After picking up hundreds of rocks from their field,
they built the wooden form and then mixed and poured the concrete which included as one of its contents the earlier rocks. This part of the story lends itself well to
the idea of building on a firm foundation. Seeing these illustrations will help
children understand why that principle is so crucial. You may want to begin the
reading by showing your audience the family photographs that the author includes.
Look in the back surrounding the Author’s Note which explains how this book is
grounded in his family’s story.
Publisher & Date of Publication:
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013
Age & Grade Appropriateness:
3 and up, Pre and up
# of Pages:
48
Available in
Spanish? Not at present
Formats other than Book: Tablet, Audible, Video
PBT
Category: Award Winner, Fresh off the Press, Non-fiction
PBT Topics this
Book Connects with: abundance/bounty, action, adventure, affection, beginnings/morning,
blessings, challenges, change, comfort, commitment, dreams/aspiration, family,
fathers, feasting/food/hunger/nutrition,
generosity/giving/offering/stewardship, gifts/giftedness/talents,
gratitude/thankfulness/thanksgiving, helping, heritage, home, image of God,
joy, labor/work, land/mountains/soil, milestones, mothers, new home/relocation,
nurturing, parents/parental love, participation, partners/teamwork,
perseverance, power, preparation/preparing, protecting/protection,
rocks/shells/stones, safe place/sanctuary, satisfaction, strength/strength in
God, time/timing/over time, transformation, unity, wisdom
Scripture Connections: The Lord is
my rock (Psalm 18:2); Build your house on rock not sand (Matthew 7:24-27); like
a skilled master builder I laid a foundation (1 Corinthians 3:9-15)
Idea(s) for Application:
This would be a wonderful book to read to children who are homeschooled or in a
private school where a construction project is in process. Use this event and wonderful
picture book to inspire discussion about what your spiritual community views as
the components of a “firm foundation” or a “safe sanctuary.”
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