Home: September Book Recommendations - Growing Up in Santa Cruz

Home: September Book Recommendations

By Michelle Spence

With the kids back in school, there is a return to routine—often absent during the carefree days of summer. It’s an exciting time that can also be overwhelming with school schedules, sports, activities, homework, and more. One of the most important anchors for kids is home—not just the physical space, but the feeling it provides. Happily, young readers can turn to books to experience the comforts and coziness of home and family whenever it is needed.

A House is a House for Me

Written by Mary Ann Hoberman Illustrated by Betty Fraser

Mary Ann Hoberman begins her rhyming story simply enough, naming hills and hives and holes as the houses for various creatures. But before long, she has expanded her definition of shelter to encompass a peach (a house for a peachpit), a mirror (a house for reflections), and a throat (a house for a hum). Cuddle up with this book, which of course is a house for a delightful story!

A House that Once Was

Written by Julie Fogliano

Illustrated by Lane Smith

Just published, this quiet tale of mystery and intrigue reveals an old house in the woods, now overrun with tangled vines and spindly trees. With a blue bird for company, two children climb in the window and imagine the “someone who once was… who’s gone but is still everywhere.” After spending the afternoon rummaging for clues and wondering how much the house remembers, the kids retreat to their own cozy home and relish the dinner on their table.

This House, Once

By Deborah Freedman

Follow along as we dreamily behold each of the elements that makes a house a home, from the front door “once a colossal oak tree” and the bricks “once mud that oozed around roots” to the window that “was sand once… melted to glass.” Misty, almost velvety watercolors reveal both the history and the now of this house, as we come to see how our own home fits into the world outside our door.

The Lost Lake

By Allen Say

An old favorite of ours, this story vividly captures the way a trip to the mountains can bind a family. Luke is spending the summer cooped up with his work-from-home father in a nameless big city. As an escape, Luke constructs a makeshift collage of magazine photos showing mountains and rivers and lakes. His project inspires a father- son backpacking trip to Lost Lake, replete with a long drive, heavy packs, and walking sticks, as well as the requisite off-trail hiking to get away from the crowds. Just goes to show, sometimes you have to leave home to find home.

The House in the Night

Written by Susan Marie Swanson Illustrated by Beth Krommes

Beautifully detailed black-and-white drawings illustrate this progressive tale of a house in the night as a child settles down to sleep. With a soothing tone and a whispering hush, the child is tucked into bed under- neath the watchful moonlight.

Michelle Spence is a children’s bookseller at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Her favorite books are the ones her kids can quote by heart.