Description

"A story about the small things in one neighborhood—their fragility, strength, and connection—and their power to make a difference." (Booklist starred review)

This powerful wordless picture book with beautiful collage illustrations can be "enjoyed independently or incorporated into units on the environment, communities, or artistic technique," according to School Library Journal. "A book to treasure."

In Jeannie Baker's striking, natural collages, an urban community reclaims its land. A city street becomes a living, thriving neighborhood—a place to call home.

Little by little, baby Tracy grows. She and her neighbors begin to rescue their street. Together, children and adults plant grass and trees and bushes in the empty spaces. They stop the cars. Everything begins to blossom.

As an author/artist note states: "The choice is ours to make—having simply a place to live or, by understanding the land and caring for it, belonging to a living home."

A family. A house. A neighborhood. A place to play. A place to feel safe.

About the Author

Jeannie Baker is the author-artist of a number of distinguished picture books. Window, the companion book to Home, was a School Library Journal Best Book, a Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, a Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year, a Young Australian Best Book, and was short-listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Her other books include Home in the Sky, an ALA Notable Book, and Where the Forest Meets the Sea, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and the recipient of an IBBY Honor Award and a Friends of the Earth Award in Great Britain. Jeannie Baker makes her home in Sydney, Australia.

Jeannie Baker is the author-artist of a number of distinguished picture books. Window, the companion book to Home, was a School Library Journal Best Book, a Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, a Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year, a Young Australian Best Book, and was short-listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Her other books include Home in the Sky, an ALA Notable Book, and Where the Forest Meets the Sea, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and the recipient of an IBBY Honor Award and a Friends of the Earth Award in Great Britain. Jeannie Baker makes her home in Sydney, Australia.

Praise For…

"This wordless picture book with exquisitely detailed collage illustrations speaks eloquently about urban conservation. The community brings back a variety of local plants, and by the time the young woman's own baby is born, trees block the billboards, there are birds on the roof and in the sky, and cyclists and a bus can be seen on the roadway. The details show and tell a story about the small things in one neighborhood—their fragility, strength, and connection—and their power to make a difference." — Booklist (starred review)

"The area is slowly reclaimed, so that the final view through the window is clean, lush, and green, with birds nesting peacefully in new trees and vistas that reveal glimpses of the now-visible blue river. In each of the double-page views through the window, readers can note not just the physical changes, but also the people in the community actively engaged in affecting those changes and producing a true home. Baker uses natural materials to create detailed, arresting collages that tell a story in which words are superfluous." — School Library Journal