*Houses with a Story by Seiji Yoshida

Houses with a Story offers both a fascinating tour of storybook dwellings and a springboard to imagination.

*Houses with Story: A Dragon’s Den, a Ghostly Mansion, a Library of Lost Books, and 30 More Amazing Places to Explore by Seiji Yoshida, translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash. Amulet, 2023, 123 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10

Recommended for: all ages

“From picture books to novels, the stories I’ve encountered since my childhood have almost always featured buildings that left impressions.” Think about it: the author mentions Huck Finn’s hideout and Heidi’s Alpine hut, but can you picture the cottage of Mr. Tumnus or Mr. Toad’s mansion or Merlin’s cluttered woodland house from The Sword in the Stone?

The dwellings Yoshida goes on to picture are not from established literature, but may serve as inspiration for storytelling. The “Mischievous Bridge Tower Keeper,” for example, wears armor he probably stole from wagons coming into the castle. Because nobody guards the bridge anymore, he likes to block the gateway and pilfer items from stalled wagons with a fishing line. The “World-Weary Astronomer” lives on top of a high cliff with a homemade telescope and a goat. The old man who runs the apple cider mill isn’t so lonely because his granddaughter comes to visit. But the “Melancholy Lighthouse Keeper” was divorced some years ago and hardly ever sees visitors.

Each residence gets a two-page spread showing a cutaway of the house, a simple floor plan, detail captions, and a brief establishment paragraph. Some, like the lighthouse and the lost-books library and the submerged city, get four pages. Double-page “sidebars” include brief treatises on roofs, toilets, and the author’s own studio, plus concept drawings and a wordless panel story.

My mother studied to be an architect; maybe that’s one reason why I’m drawn to cutaways and floor plans. Any other budding architect, decorator, designer, or cozy-window-seat reader should eat this book up. Houses with a Story won this year’s Batchelder Medal for best children’s book published in another country and subsequently translated. For me, it wins a place in my permanent library.

Overall Rating: 4.75 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4
• Artistic/literary value: 5

 Read more about our ratings here.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: For ocean enthusiasts, David Macaulay’s Crossing on Time includes loads of cutaways and design details. And don’t miss his architecture books like Castle, Pyramid, and Cathedral.
• Resource: Aspiring engineers will find something to sink their teeth into with our Go Build Something! booklist.
• Reflection: Speaking of Mr. Tumnus, see Betsy’s thoughts on “5 Souvenirs”—or takeaways from reading the books aloud.

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