A Very Special House

by Ruth Krauss

Other authorsMaurice Sendak (Illustrator)

Hardcover, 1953

Status

Available

Call number

KRAUSS

Genres

Children's Books

Publication

Harper & Row Publishers (1953), Library Binding

Description

A boy imagines a house to bring home a turtle, a little dead mouse, a very old lion, and where nobody ever says stop.

User reviews

LibraryThing member curiousbutterpants

"A Very Special House" reminds me of the simple pleasures of the imagination. You're never at a want for little things to appreciate in life, when you have just a bit of imagination - and that's what this is about.

As Maurice Sendak's sparsely illustrated little boy dances about the book's pages

drawing imaginary friends and objects, Ruth Krauss's simple, rhyming prose almost invites us into a little dance and song of our own. This seems like a terrific book to remember when you need just a bit more levity in your step, or a distraction from your problems. There's nothing quite the cure like the imagination.

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LibraryThing member feboudre

At first the book seems a little silly, but in the end it is all about imagination and creativity. The little boy talks about a very special house filled with silly and crazy things, but this house is only inside his "head, head, head".

Genre: Fiction
Age(s): 4-8

LibraryThing member Mparis

This story is about a child's imagination and the house is inside his brain and all he imagines.
While the pictures by Maurice Sendak are great, I didn't like the text of this book. It's full of words that aren't real and sentences that contain very bad grammar. I couldn't follow it well, and my

students in special ed. had no idea what was going on.
Theme: imagination

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LibraryThing member dukefan86

The story's pretty cute and whimsical, the illustrations what we've come to love from Sendak.

LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

How is it that this is first time I've ever encountered this book?! It was available when I was a child, the creators are famous, it's won a Caldecott, but in all my parenting and teaching experiences I don't believe I've ever seen a reference to it, much less read it.

Well, that's a shame. My sons

would probably have enjoyed this a lot, back when they would innocently make up their own monologue songs. Removed as I am from children now, I could not read this aloud coherently, but back then, with the rhythm of early childhood imagination all around me, I would have been able to.

What adventures await in the house in *your* head?

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LibraryThing member boxofdelights

Sendak's pictures and Krauss's words reflect each other's joy.

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