#StayHome Memory-Making
GRANDYCAMP: Home Sweet Home Home Sweet Home has taken on new dimensions in these last months. Grandmas are lonely, the youngest kids are confused, older ones stressed and missing friends, but most have some idea of the safety that home brings. Every child begins a love of literature with the classic Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, naming all the favorite things in a child’s room to wish goodnight. We chose a “Reader’s Dozen” of picture books to share more aspects of home with your children and grandchildren, curled up on a lap, or on a video chat. We have found, in these weeks, that recordings work better than live – the kids can watch when they are ready, comforted by your voice and attention, without having to “behave” a certain way at a time chosen by adults. You can stop the story and interact with questions, and even imagine their answers and talk about it, all on video. And they can listen over and over.
Be sure to catch the sidebar link at the end with fun book suggestions for every room in the house!
HOME-THEMED ACTIVITIES
Lea Redmond of Leafcutter Designs has a line of creative indoor and outdoor activity cards in the making, inspired by shelter-in-place. She has contributed a pdf of several to whet you whistle before they are available. Fun ideas the kids will love, like – give awards of achievement to things in your home. Use this list or make up your own categories…
coziest chair
quietest spot
most useful tool
smallest thing
most colorful item
best book
funniest object
Make post-it paper awards or use stickers or blue ribbons from the dollar store and host an awards ceremony where you could announce the winners in both households on facetime.
Do your Grands know your house well enough to guess objects from close-up details? We do this kind of puzzle in National Geographic Kids all the time. Take a close-up photo of objects in your house and have them guess what it is. Show the “answer” with a picture of the whole object. Maybe they could do the same with objects at their house for some real back and forth. (Yes, I have hedgehog pompoms on my mantel.)
We were on a house and neighborhood “kick” during shelter-in-place and made houses and buildings out of random cereal and oatmeal boxes. This link has cut paper designs the kids can color and create (make sure you add Grandma’s house!) Passports has a series of printables with page 6 being a simple blank house where you can design the interior with crayons and markers. HERE is a printable house that makes four rooms glued together in the middle – fun to color and add other details. We still want to make one of these fabulous bird homes to tape to a window. Send pictures if you try it first!
On to the picture books, but wait, we also wanted to remind you of The Borrowers by Mary Norton, for reading aloud. Remember, the one with the tiny people living in your house, the ones often blamed for little things that have a way of disappearing, with postage stamp paintings and champagne cork chairs? Beloved by imaginative, school-aged boys and girls since 1952. And, if you are interested in home-themed grownup books for you, here is a list from the New York Times.
Bookshop links are included for your convenience and will sometimes support Grandycamp. An Amazon link is included if Bookshop doesn’t carry it. We also love it when you purchase from independent bookstores and borrow from the library!
HOME-THEMED BOOKS
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, illus. by Stephen Gammell. Ages 3-7. THIS is what houses are for – joyful visits from friends and family. “You’d have to get through at least four hugs to get from the kitchen to the front room.” Places for play, supper, quiet talk, and sleep, all in a pile. We are craving just this sort of huggish time and all the talk and eating, catching up and being together. Caldecott Honor.
Castles, Caves and Honeycombs by Linda Ashman, illus. by Lauren Stringer. Ages 4-7. Lovely language and engaging art invite us into the many places can make a home - "A home's a house, a den, a nest./ A place to play,/ A place to rest./ A place to share,/ A place to hug,/ A home is someplace safe and snug." Each one is just right for the families who live there, and because the names of the animals are not mentioned, children can try to identify the creatures, adding an element of participation to the story.
The Napping House by Audrey Wood, illus. by Doug Wood. Ages 3-7. A cozy bed, a snoring granny, a dreaming child, a dozing dog, a snoozing--WAIT! There's a surprise in store, and little ones will want to discover it over and over again. Don and Audrey Wood's beloved picture book has sold more than one and a half million copies.
My House has Stars by Megan McDonald, illus. by Peter Catalanotto. Ages 5-8. From the roof of his mud-walled house in Nepal, Akam sees stars; Carmen watches them from her houseboat in the Philippines; Abu sees the night sky from his village in Ghana; Mariko looks out of paper windows from her house in Japan. In an adobe pueblo, Chili can see the stars when he climbs to his flat rooftop; Oyun sees the heavens above her yurt in the Mongolian desert; Sergio goes out on the roof of his Brazilian city skyscraper to see the night sky, and Mattie views the winter night from her igloo in Alaska. Homes from around the world all sharing the night sky.
The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster, illus. by Chris Raschka. Ages 3-7. The window in Nanna and Poppy's kitchen is no ordinary window–it is the place where love and magic happens. It's where the girl and her doting grandparents watch stars, play games, and, most importantly, say hello and goodbye. The first-person text is both simple and sophisticated, conjuring a perfectly child-centered world. "When I get tired I come in and take my nap and nothing happens until I get up" typifies the girl's happy, imaginative world. Caldecott Medal.
A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman, illus. by Betty Fraser. Ages 4-6. A rollicking rhyme about home sweet home. Some are familiar, like an anthill and a dog kennel, while others are surprising, like a corn husk and a pea pod. Hundreds of meticulously drawn everyday objects presented in delightfully unexpected ways make the book itself a house for the reader's imagination. A modern classic.
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. Ages 4-7. Generations of readers have been enchanted by the story of this happy home and her journey from the pleasures of nature to the bustling city, and back again. A sturdy, well-tended little house standing on a hill in the countryside watches the days, nights, and seasons come and go as the town grows around her. The little house shows steadfast resilience against any challenge the changing world puts before it. Caldecott Medal.
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. Ages 5-8. Hermit Crab sets out to seek the perfect home and learns to appreciate change and an important lesson about growing up: For every friend and adventure left behind, there are new ones just ahead! Change can be frightening but full of wonderful opportunities. Especially love the tiny 5” version of this book.
It Could Always be Worse by Margot Zemach. Ages 3-6. Once upon a time a poor, unfortunate man lived with his mother, his wife, and his six children in a one-room hut. Because they were so crowded, the children often fought and the man and his wife argued. The Rabbi advises the man to add more and more animals to his hut, and the scene turns from mildly disruptive to complete pandemonium. When the Rabbi at last has him release all his farm animals from the hut, he is delighted to find himself living a state of complete and utter peacefulness.
The House Baba Built by Ed Young and Libby Koponen. Ages 4-8. Young's father builds a house for his growing family and for others who join them in WW2 Shanghai, China. Ed lovingly recalls the ways in which the house is transformed as needs change - a rocking chair became a horse; a roof became a roller rink; an empty swimming pool became a place for riding scooters and bikes. This oversize book with foldout pages is illustrated with photos, drawings, and collage.
26 Fairmont Avenue by Tomie de Paola. Ages 7-10. An autobiographical account of young Tomie’s house being built in the 1930s with timeless details for the things children care about and remember (like being allowed to draw on the walls before they were plastered!) Adults will empathize with the building and landscaping snafus. The narrative is crisp and casual, making it an ideal chapter read-aloud. Black-and-white drawings portray family members, many of whom are familiar from his earlier beloved picture books. Newbery Honor Award.
Roomrimes by Sylvia Cassedy, illus. by Michele Chessare. Ages 8-12. Lyrical, thoughtful poems invite the reader to explore rooms, both literal and imaginary, from attic to basement, from castle keep to zoo. There are city, country and imaginary settings, as well as the shell of a clam. The poems vary in style and form and ranging from haiku to metered rhyme to free verse, some thoughtful and others clever and full of wordplay.
DIANNE’S PICK: We lost a brilliant and cherished friend, colleague, and mentor, Dr. Dianne Monson, in early March. We decided to honor her on our lists with a book we just know she would pick!
Windows With Birds by Karen Ritz. Ages 4-8. The cat and boy live in a perfect house with birds in the windows, 26 steps, 29 hiding places, and a foolish mouse in the basement. One day the boy zips the cat into his jacket and takes him to a new home, a downtown high-rise, and the cat’s feelings reflect what we know is unspoken about the boy. This moving story is about making a home, change, the things you miss, and the new things you discover.
WAIT! THERE’S MORE! WE HAVE A SIDEBAR! When the Grandkids moved to a new house two years ago, we had some fun reading a book in every room. Becky had an even better idea to actually pick a book for EVERY ROOM! Or maybe two! And maybe don’t wait for a new house.
by Karen Ritz, creator of www.GrandyCamp.info – website and social for active, busy grandparents, B.S. Children’s Literature and Illustration, University of Minnesota, illustrator of 46 children’s books, and “Gramma” to Jack and Grace.
Dr. Rebecca Rapport, retired Children’s Literature Professor, University of Minnesota, former editor of New Books for Young Readers, practicing with many Grand Nieces and Nephews, and now a brand new Grandma to Damien!
Dr. Lee Galda, Marguerite Henry Professor of Children’s & Young Adult Literature, Emerita, University of Minnesota, co-editor of Literature and the Child, now in its 9th edition, and “Readie” to Bennett and Odessa.