The Great Blue House

by Kate Banks

Book Overview

An award-winning team again join their talents When summer ends, a family pack their suitcases and bid the big blue house farewell. All seems quiet. But soon the leaves change color; then comes the snow. A cat creeps into the house and curls up in the woodbox. A mouse tucks himself into a cupboard. When spring comes, the garden awakens, and by summer the house is bustling with human life once more. This unusual story about a summer house that welcomes...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374327696
• ISBN13: 9780374327699
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.2" x 10.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Is the House Only Blue?

This is a story of a Great Blue House, but are those the only colors to be found in this house? No! This tells a simple story of a supposedly empty house where a lot is happening leaves are fluttering etc. outside and a mouse is eating crumbs in the kitchen. The book offers many impressionist pictures and a world of color in house where everything isn't as it seems. This book is good for art classes as well as young children.

A Happy Place

Gorgeous, color-saturated illustrations, a simple story for young listeners, and a happy ending for all. My granddaughter loves this book.

BOLD, BRIGHT IMPRESSIONISTIC PAINTINGS

Anyone who ever owned or dreamed of owning a summer home will be attracted to "The Great Blue House." However, the talented team of Kate Banks and Georg Hallensleben offer a different take on vacation homes. The magic in this story is not found in the good times the family has during the warm months, but rather on how the house awaits their return through the fall, winter and early spring. When the family leaves, "The gate is locked. The windows are sealed tight. In the yard the grass lies flat. All is quiet in the great blue house. Or is it?" There are noises inside the house - a faucet drips, a cupboard door swings open, and a mouse nibbles at crumbs. As the days grow cold frost covers the windowpanes and we're invited to "Listen to it buckle and crack." Soon, a stray cat has found a new home in a woodbox inside the house, and high in the attic a bird hides from the cat. After winter, rain comes and spring arrives as the bird builds a nest and the cat "settles into a secret dream." When the family returns in the summer they're delighted to find fledglings and baby kittens. Summer and life return to the great blue house. Hallensleben's double page paintings are bold, bright, Impressionistic - quite beautiful. - Gail Cooke