This Is Our House

George refuses to let anyone into his cardboard house, telling others that it belongs only to him and that no one else is welcome, but when George steps away, all the children pile in and tell George he is not welcome, teaching George an important lesson in sharing.

PreSchool-Grade 2?A cardboard box on an urban playground is the setting for this exploration of discrimination. George is in a cardboard "house" and declares that "This house is all for me!" As the other kids try to join him, he gives them his reasons why they cannot enter: no girls, no small people, etc. Race is not mentioned. The children try different approaches to soften George, but nothing works. Finally he has to use the bathroom, and when he returns the house is full. Charlene tells him, "This house isn't for people with red hair," and he shouts, cries, stamps, and punches. Then he realizes what the others have known all along: "This house is for everyone!" The playground setting helps keep the book from being weighed down by the important, but obvious, message. Graham uses watercolors and crayons to highlight the main action on each page, while gray-shaded drawings fill out the backgrounds. There are no lectures in the text; the kids work out the problem on their own using actions rather than speeches. The solution is not completely satisfying, as George learns his lesson only when he is given the same treatment he gave others. More important, though, is the children's unerring confidence that they do belong in the house, and their willing inclusion of George in the end. There are obvious opportunities for discussion and sharing here, but the book speaks for itself in a clear and engaging manner.?Steven Engelfried, West Linn Public Library,
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rosen and Graham (Rose Meets Mr. Wintergarten) use a light touch to deliver an important lesson. In the shadows of an apartment complex, redheaded George sits in his cardboard-box house and won't let any of his multicultural cadre of friends come near it. He bans them for different but always personal reasons?because they're girls, or too small, or wear glasses, etc. George's friends try to get him to open up his house by weaving him into their play: "We're coming in to fix the fridge," announce twins Charlene and Marlene, while Luther sends his toy airplane crashing into the house and tells George that he must rescue it. But George will not budge until, finally, nature calls. Taking over the house, his friends turn the tables on George and force him to see the error of his ways. Rosen has an instinctive feel for the way children confront one another, ponder, negotiate and form alliances?every word of the trenchant text rings true. Graham's squiggly, cartoon-like illustrations convey George's physically aggressive stubbornness and the dismay of his friends, but leaven the scenes with imaginative details. On the other hand, Graham risks subverting Rosen's message on the last spread: when the entire gang finally convenes in the "house," the box proves a little too small after all?it falls apart. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Nine kids drag a cardboard box into a playground, where George immediately takes over: ``This house is mine and no one else is coming in.'' The others try to get past him, but George won't let them inside--and he explains why not: ``This house isn't for girls,'' ``This house isn't for people with glasses,'' etc. After he temporarily vacates the box to go to the bathroom, he finds that the others have declared the house off-limits to ``people with red hair.'' George, who has red hair, has an epiphany: ``This house is for everyone!'' Rosen (A School for Pompey Walker, 1995, etc.) has written a persuasive and entertaining morality play. For all its cadences, the dialogue is pungently realistic, perfectly reflecting the reasoning that goes on among children. The ethnically diverse cast appears against a stark white urban background of high-rise apartment buildings. These unassuming pictures are surprisingly powerful; Graham grays some characters and leaves others in full- color to shift the spotlight from scene to scene, then further emphasizes this theatrical effect by zooming in or pulling back from the action. Overall, it's real cartoon drama. (Picture book. 3-6) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 4^-7. Taking possession of the house (a large cardboard box with a paper-towel-roll-and-coat-hanger antenna) as the other kids look on, George announces, "This house is all for me!" Every time the others try to enter, he refuses them pointedly, noting that it's not a house for girls, small people, twins, people with glasses, and so on. When George leaves to use the bathroom, though, he returns to find himself excluded. His hurt and anger cause him to rethink his premise and discover that the box is a house for everyone. The simple text and economical line drawings make the events and emotions clear and unequivocal. Bright washes and crayon markings highlight the central action in each illustration, while gray washes tint the other figures. Just right for those friends-and-cooperation units at the beginning of the school year, this picture book has a point to make and its winning combination of style and emotional truth to make the lesson more palatable. Carolyn Phelan