A Little House in a Big Place

February 18, 2019
In lyrical verse, Acheson writes, “A girl lived in a little house... in the middle of a big place”; the girl’s sibling plays on a patchwork quilt amid patchwork fields. Every day, the girl exchanges waves with the train engineer and wonders whether “she might go away, too” one day. Chalky multimedia art by LeBlond portrays perspective—a little house against a liquid, star-flecked sky; wild strawberries against
a vast field; the dot that becomes a train that becomes “an almost invisible dot.” After the engineer tosses the girl his cap on his last day on the job, the girl too moves away from her daily post, on to the business of growing up. Years later, she dons the cap as she herself boards a train to a new place with similarities to her family home, showing that temporal and spatial changes are fluid, necessary, parts of life. Ages 4–7.

February 15, 2019
A wistful little girl imagines a world beyond the gardens and grain fields of home.A country girl waits patiently at her window each day to wave to the engineer of the train that passes nearby, traveling east in the morning and journeying west at night, wondering about this person she will never meet. Like her, does he dream of a life different from the one he has? The gift of the engineer's hat gives the precocious child the courage to explore her safe domain and imagine a different life. Surrounded by loving parents, a baby brother, some quiet cows, and a snoozing cat, she looks beyond the borders of a bucolic world to ponder where else she could go, what else she could be. Acheson chooses rhythmic language that carries the story forward with a nearly audible clickety-clack. Soft folk-style art done in gouache, oil pastels, and colored pencils lends a homey country atmosphere to the changing seasons of a very quiet rural life. Both the little girl's perspective and the pages' focus change from up close to far away, from what's real to what's imagined, always with her family nearby. A final two-page spread provides a happy ending that, like the arrival of a train, we know is coming. All the characters present white.Although the book's plot is, perhaps, as predictable as the evening train, it's entirely pleasurable. (Picture book. 6-9)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-A girl living in a little house surrounded by an expansive patchwork of fields loves to watch the train rumble by her backyard each day. She waves to the engineer, and he waves back. The child wonders "where he came from and where he went. And if she might go away, too, someday." One day, the engineer floats a gift through the air to the young girl, which she cherishes always. Although the daily habit of greeting the speeding train dissipates, the lasting impression of that experience never leaves the young girl, even as she matures into a young woman. Done in gouache, oil pastels, and colored pencils, Leblond's illustrations perfectly convey the feeling that people only take up a small space in the vast world around them. Invoking a sense of curiosity and imagination, the combination of text and artwork takes readers on a journey of thoughtful wonder about all that the future may hold. The presence of the engineer's gift in the illustration depicting the girl's entry into adult life demonstrates the significance of the engineer and his impact on the young girl's development. VERDICT A quiet, dreamy coming-of-age story that gently highlights the influence that strangers can have on one's imagination.-Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.