fun - try this on Roman ( )

I tagged with my "depressing" tag but I don't think it's depressing so much as melancholy. I loved the illustrations, obviously, because I love Jon Klassen to bits and his illustrations really capture melancholy quite well. The story didn't quite do it for me - a house's people all move away and then house gets pushed up to the sky by the trees all growing around it. It paints a beautiful picture, but it personally didn't touch my heart so much. Maybe it was because, in this library copy I read, some monster underlined a bunch of words in PEN. ( )

A young boy and girl move into a house with their father. The house is surrounded by grass, but on the edges all around is the forest. The children love the forest, but their father never joins them. He just mows his lawn. Ted Kooser's poetry/prose combined with exquisite illustrations by Jon Klassen make this a classic. ( )

This book showed the growth of a family but also the growth of trees in the family. Ted Kooser did an amazing job writing a story about a father and the desire to keep his house and lawn perfect for his family. When his family grew up and moved away, it was time for the trees to take over and keep the house safe in their branches and growth. Jon Klassen's illustrations are full of different colors and straight smooth lines at the beginning of the story. Towards the end of the book, Klassen's illustrations are more blended with the background and flow together. Klassen still does not use bright bold colors and lines in any part of the book, just like all of the previous books of his I have read. The subtle and calming style he uses is what makes his artwork unique and fits well with the story Ted Kooser has written. ( )

Beautifully illustrated, this story from poet Ted Kooser is a two edged coin. From one point of view it's about nature surviving and reclaiming the land when man leaves. But it's also about a father unable to stop the passage of time and has to watch his children leave and finally being unable to hold onto the family home. Perhaps more for slightly older children. And adults who love Jon Klassen's art work - of which I imagine there are many. ( )