"...A worldwide trip to see and learn about people's houses of all
descriptions. There is unlimited value in the succinct, interesting text
and pictures that 'show and tell' just how and why these structures are
built. Varied lifestyles, climates and available materials...young readers
with access to this engaging book will readily grasp the
concept."--School Library Journal
"...A useful starting point for children's own explorations of their
communities."--Publishers Weekly
"Have you ever launched a curriculum from just one book? This one is
full of possibilities."--Scholastic Early Childhood Today
I started out building small huts from branches and leaves, my own
'houses' just big enough to crawl into, when I was just a few years past
the crawling stage. When I was old enough to handle a few tools, I built
tree houses in a couple of huge willow trees behind our house. My
brother, sisters, and friends would climb up there too. A box on a rope
to haul things up and down or between the trees, was the most advanced
technology attached to those tree homes. But I found I liked building
places to be.
When I began working, some of my first jobs were as a laborer and
carpenter's helper on construction sites around Washington, D.C. We
didn't work on the White House, but I learned a lot about how houses
were put together, as well as a few things I didn't expect from some of
the older construction workers, one of whom specialized in weird nailing
techniques. After a few summers learning the basics, I started taking
on construction jobs by myself, with friends or occasionally with my
brother. Most of what we built seemed to stay in place. I continued to
work building and fixing up houses for many years. Then on one
remodeling job, several children started swapping stories with me, and
partly out of that experience grew my idea to put together my interests
in books, writing, drawing, and storytelling to make picture books.
Over the years I had traveled a lot, and I would often stop to watch as
people skillfully built houses out of the materials around--stone walled
buildings in the high mountains of South America and Asia, houses of
wood beams and woven plant mats in the South Pacific and other tropical
regions, adobe houses in Latin America, wood-frame houses in areas where
forests provided those materials. It was interesting for me to see the
designs people used, some were very similar from region to region, and
others distinctly different. All along the way, people would warmly
invite me into their homes. We talked as best we could and there was
most often the feeling if not the words, "Welcome, this is my house."
