The House That’s Your Home by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jane Dyer

The House That’s Your Home by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jane Dyer. Schwartz and Wade, 2015. 40 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Books (ages 0-8)

Recommended for: ages 0-8

Speaking directly to the young reader (listener), the text sweetly highlights the various elements of a small child’s world in this old-fashioned picture book. Beginning with the outside world (a tree in the yard or a swing) and moving through the inside and the various family members, Dyer’s lovely, soft illustrations provide the backdrop for Lloyd-Jones’s rhythmic text (“this is your home” or “this is your grandmother”). The presumed child reader/listener has both a mom and a dad, a brother, grandparents, and multi-ethnic friends.

Sally Lloyd-Jones is a familiar name to many; she is the author of The Jesus Storybook Bible. Dyer is also a familiar name, having illustrated such delightful books as One Smart Cookie. Nonetheless, their collaboration in this book isn’t as strong as their former literary offerings. Grandparents and parents in traditional, middle-class families will enjoy reading this with young children as a bedtime book. Those in other family situations (for example, single-parent families, children with disabilities, multiethnic families, etc.) or in different living situations (i.e. urban living) will have a harder time relating to this portrait of “the ideal family.”

Cautions: none

Overall Rating: 3.75 (out of 5)

• Worldview Rating: 4
• Artistic Rating: 3.5

Categories: Picture Books, Bedtime Books, Grandparents, 3 stars
Cover image from Amazon