The Little House
by Virginia Lee Burton
“The Little House” by Virginia Lee Burton. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. A beautiful picture book about the story of a little house over the years as a spectator to changing times over the years.
Once there was a little house way out in the charming countryside. She sat on a little hill and happily watched her beautiful surroundings. Each day was a little different from the one before it. The man who built her had said that the little house would never be sold for gold or silver. She would live on to see his great great grandchildren’s great great grandchildren living in her.
The little house loved where she was. But she was curious to know what the city looked like and wondered how things went on there. She could see the distant lights of the city. As time passed and seasons changed, the surrounding landscape also changed while the little house remained the same. At first the changes were slow and steady. But then the pace of progress, as it was called, increased. The city was expanding. The little house was no longer in the countryside but bang in the middle of the city. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry and people had no time to notice her like the earlier days.
Sounds familiar, isn’t it? The story of most of the big cities around the world I am sure. Does the little house like being in the city? Does she miss her old days in the countryside? Would she like to go back to such times? Is that even possible? Will someone from the family of the man who built her come back to her? Will she continue to live? Read the gorgeously illustrated book to journey with the little house across decades and see the ever changing world through her eyes.
My almost eight year old has loved going through the book for almost three years now. The illustrations are way too fabulous and bring the story to life. Even the endpapers show how things have changed. Though the story is set somewhere in the US, it can easily be anywhere in the world. We read another book “Maybelle the Cable Car” by the same author from a library in US and loved it. Ended up buying it as well as this one and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. This 80 year old classic won the Caldecott Medal in 1943. It has been chosen twice in the top 100 best books for children by the US National Education Association.
The book can be used to talk about various topics like how the way of living, buildings and transportation means have changed let’s say over the last century. It is hard to imagine a world now without cars, public transport, most of the skyscrapers and highways.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 5/6+.
Reasons to Read
Children would have heard parents and grandparents talk about how places and things have changed all around them since their childhoods. But to relate to it will not be so easy for them since they haven’t experienced anything of that sort yet. The book does a beautiful job of helping them visualise the changes that have occurred in the world over the last century.