A little house in a big place

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Title:

A little house in a big place

Author:

Acheson, Alison, 1964- author.

Leblond, Valériane, 1985- illustrator.

Summary:

"A beautiful free verse story, set in the prairies, about a little girl who waits at a window to wave to the train engineer who drives past her house every day. It's also a story about growing up and finding one's way in the world. Everything changes one day, when something flies out of the window of the train, and the girl rushes out to find out what it is. She wanders further an further from her house, until she spots something in grass--the engineer's cap. It's a farewell gift. It was the engineer's last day driving that train. After that, the train still comes by the house every day with a different engineer, and sometimes the girl waits by the window and waves, but not every day. Sometimes she paints, dances, plays guitar. And then one day, she gets on that train and rides away."-- Provided by publisher.

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 24 x 27 cm

Genre:

Picture books.

Bildungsromans.

Subject Term:

Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction.

Life -- Juvenile fiction.

Railroads -- Juvenile fiction.

Author(s):

Leblond, Valériane, 1985-

Publisher:

Kids Can Press,

Publication Date:

2019

ISBN:

9781771389129

Publication Information:

Toronto, ON : Kids Can Press, [2019]

Call Number:

P ACHESON

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003418301	Picture Books	ACHESON	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

Every day a girl stands at her window and waves to the engineer of the train that passes on the nearby tracks - and he waves back! The little girl is curious about the engineer, about where he came from and where he goes, which makes her wonder if she might go away, too, some day. This beautiful free verse picture book explores the magic of a connection made between strangers, while also pondering the idea of growing up, and what might lie beyond a child's own small piece of the world.

Author Notes

Alison Acheson is the author of several books for various ages, from picture books to short fiction for adults. She teaches Writing for Children and Young Adults in the MFA program at the University of British Columbia. Alison lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Valériane Leblond is a French and Québécoise artist who was brought up in Angers, France. She lives in an old farmhouse near Aberystwyth, Wales.

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

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. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

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. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.