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infin8jester's review against another edition
5.0
I came across this book while shelving in the children's section one day and thought, "Huh, Ted Kooser wrote a children's book." Now I'm not so sure, because this book gave me some adult-level existential crisis material. It's honestly beautiful.
kil3yp's review against another edition
4.0
A pretty story, although a little melancholy. Not likely one for little kids...more a story for those who have watched unloved things become beautiful things.
emkoshka's review against another edition
4.0
My kind of book, in which nature is temporarily subdued by human forces but ultimately succeeds and creates something of beauty: a treehouse! :) Beautiful and unusual illustrations, done digitally and in gouache, achieving a transparent, pastel spraypaint effect.
peonylantern's review against another edition
4.0
Digital and gouache
Lovely prose
Calming overall
interesting angles
Lovely prose
Calming overall
interesting angles
nadiaes76's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful. Feels comparable to The Giving Tree in the way it portrays a sense of sadness about the passage of time.
bethmitcham's review
4.0
Very quiet with lovely pictures. A good fit for a snuggle with an intellectual child.
tashrow's review
5.0
This is the story of a family and a house. When the house was new, it stood upon a newly planted lawn where the trees had been removed. It was bare, not even a stump left behind. On either side of the bare lot were trees of all sorts, the kind that spread seeds and scents. Two children lived in the new house and often played in the trees at the edges, watching their father care for the lawn. Their father mowed down all of the small tree seedlings before they could get started at all. But the children grew up, the man moved away to be closer to them, and the house was left alone. Alone except for the trees, which grew and took over the barren lawn, and eventually lifted the house high on their shoulders.
Read the rest of my review on my blog, Waking Brain Cells.
Read the rest of my review on my blog, Waking Brain Cells.
satyridae's review
4.0
I loved the text immoderately, which isn't surprising because I love Kooser immoderately (he is in fact one of the vanishingly small number of people who have made me cry in public). I'm not as fond of the illustrations by Klassen. There's a bit of flatness to them that doesn't quite work to my eye- the words are so lovely and so fraught that the combination is jarring. Still, a lovely, lovely book.
ellielabbett's review
4.0
House Held up By Trees tells the story of man’s battle against nature. A father works tirelessly and obsessively, preening his lawn to a barren ‘perfection’. His rejection of the natural world is tangible, and all the while his children embrace the beauty and creative opportunities that it has to offer. There is an interesting parallel drawn between the father’s outlook upon nature and the implicit deterioration of his relationship with his children. I would be intrigued to hear children’s thoughts on the link with loss.
For me, Kooser’s narrative spoke quietly as Klassen’s illustrations progressively began to roar with change and in retaliation of the resistance of all things natural. There are some interesting things being done with perspective here in representing the rise of nature, possibly suggesting that the protagonist may not be whom it first appeared. Whilst I enjoyed Kooser’s words, the power of Klassen’s perspective possibly spoke louder for me, and it could have been intriguing to remove the words and see the impact with children- particularly in the second part of the story.
For me, Kooser’s narrative spoke quietly as Klassen’s illustrations progressively began to roar with change and in retaliation of the resistance of all things natural. There are some interesting things being done with perspective here in representing the rise of nature, possibly suggesting that the protagonist may not be whom it first appeared. Whilst I enjoyed Kooser’s words, the power of Klassen’s perspective possibly spoke louder for me, and it could have been intriguing to remove the words and see the impact with children- particularly in the second part of the story.