My house is singing
(Book)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Contributors
Published
Orlando : Harcourt, [2004].
ISBN
0152162933
Status

Description

Poems about some of the things that are in a child's home, from furniture and light bulbs to the cocoon of a flowered bedspread, and the feelings associated with them.

Copies

LocationCall NumberStatus
Evergreen Park Public Library - Juvenile StacksJ 811 ROSOn Shelf

More Details

Published
Orlando : Harcourt, [2004].
Format
Book
Physical Desc
1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cm
Language
English
ISBN
0152162933

Notes

Description
Poems about some of the things that are in a child's home, from furniture and light bulbs to the cocoon of a flowered bedspread, and the feelings associated with them.

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

PreS-Gr. 3. Dishwasher clicking. / Pipes pinging. / Listen closely. / My house is singing. Written in a variety of styles, this collection of spare, immediate poems describes the living, noisy personality a little girl finds in her house: the weary old roof, the stubborn back door, even the sock-eating dryer. Sometimes the girl argues with her house as if it were a sibling: Why is it that / whenever I make my toast / a little crispy, / you tell on me? she whines to the smoke detector. At other times, she finds deep, sweet comfort in favorite things: You rock my body calm. / You rock me into sweet dreams, she tells her rocking chair. Chodos-Irvine's large, sunny, illustrations reflect the words' interesting perspectives with slightly skewed angles, elemental shapes, and airy compositions that don't overwhelm the poems. This is a natural choice for classroom poetry projects, and little ones will delight in the accessible language and delicious personification of familiar things. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2004 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 3-A collection of short poems about what's in a child's house. Subjects include the piano, the laundry room, a door that is stuck, etc. The accompanying illustrations are done with watercolors and an effective stamping or woodblock technique. Some of the selections are in rhyme, while others are in free verse; they vary in quality. "My Hideaway" introduces the idea of a place where one can be alone: "And just behind that my-size door/there is a place where I can store/my rocks, my bugs, my diamond rings,/and lots of other private things." "My Bedroom Slippers," which depends on common and static images, is less successful: "They lie/beside my bed,/waiting/for my icy toes/to wake them up." Nevertheless, the book is acceptable as a supplemental purchase. David L. Harrison's Alligator in the Closet (Boyds Mills, 2003) and Dee Lillegard's Wake Up, House! (Knopf, 2000) both have a similar theme.-Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Horn Book Review

(Primary) In the first poem in this inviting picture book, a young girl wakes up feeling grateful for her house: ""It's one giant hug, / wrapping itself around me, / no matter what. / It's my house."" In the last, she ""drift[s] to sleep / in my cocoon."" Nestled in between are twenty-six verses that celebrate home and its comforts. The short poems and welcoming illustrations convey the experience of spending a day with the narrator as she appreciates what makes her house special to her. Reflections on the familiar--from ""My Bedroom Slippers"" to the phone (""The Interrupter"") to cooking smells (""The Kitchen's Perfume"")--make the poems approachable and accessible. There's lighthearted humor, as in the four-line musing ""The Smoke Detector"": ""Why is it that / whenever I make my toast / a little crispy, / you tell on me?"" Thoughts on favorite things (""Hallway Chair,"" ""Rocking Chair"") and spaces (""My Hideaway,"" ""The Stuff Place"") contribute to the comfortable tone. Rhyming and blank verse, as well as a few concrete poems (""Ants!,"" ""Our Picture Gallery,"" ""Tired Lightbulb""), add variety. Like the homey verse, Chodos-Irvine's flat, patterned illustrations are more impressionistic than realistic, leaving lots of space for readers to contemplate the music of their own dwellings. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

In a set of poetic observations written with a child's voice and sensibility, Rosenthal celebrates a house's nooks and crannies, furnishings, noises, decorations, and general coziness. Caldecott Honor-winner Chodos-Irvine captures the writer's ruminative tone with blocky, semi-abstract prints, done in vibrant colors and depicting a child of indeterminate race posed comfortably in pleasantly untidy domestic settings. The poems share a theme, but vary in form--and also mood, from a tongue-in-cheek inventory of "The Stuff Place" ("I've heard that garages / are built for cars. / There's never been room / for one in ours") to frustration at a stuck back door, plus shaped observations of a "Tired Light Bulb," and a trail of "Ants!" in the kitchen. A confident debut for Rosenthal, and a strong follow-up for a talented award-winner. (Picture book/poetry. 6-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Rosenthal, B. R., & Chodos-Irvine, M. (2004). My house is singing (First edition.). Harcourt.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Rosenthal, Betsy R and Margaret Chodos-Irvine. 2004. My House Is Singing. Orlando: Harcourt.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Rosenthal, Betsy R and Margaret Chodos-Irvine. My House Is Singing Orlando: Harcourt, 2004.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

Rosenthal, B. R. and Chodos-Irvine, M. (2004). My house is singing. First edn. Orlando: Harcourt.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Rosenthal, Betsy R., and Margaret Chodos-Irvine. My House Is Singing First edition., Harcourt, 2004.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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