A Very Special House facts for kids
Dust jacket of the First Edition
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| Author | Ruth Krauss |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Maurice Sendak |
| Cover artist | Sendak |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Picture book |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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1953 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 32 pp |
| ISBN | 0060286385 |
A Very Special House is a fun picture book from 1953. It was written by Ruth Krauss and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. The book was published by HarperCollins.
This book was recognized as a Caldecott Medal Honor Book in 1954. This was the first of seven Caldecott Honors for Maurice Sendak! He later won the actual Caldecott Medal in 1964 for his famous book, Where the Wild Things Are. A Very Special House was re-released in 2001. This was part of a project to bring back 22 of Sendak's works.
What the Book is About
The story in A Very Special House is told by a little boy. He uses words like "I" and "me" to share his thoughts. This is called a first-person narrative. The story is written like a poem. It has 62 lines that rhyme. It starts with "dee dee dee oh-h-h" and ends with "dee dee dee oh / doh doh doh-h-h-h".
The book also uses words that repeat three times. Examples include "chairs chairs chairs" and "ooie ooie ooie". You'll find lots of silly words and phrases. There are also words that sound like they're misspelled. These are meant to show how a child might say them. Maurice Sendak's drawings add even more words and phrases. These extra words help tell the story too.
The Story's Adventure
The book is about a little boy who imagines a "special house." This house is "just a house for Me ME." The cover of the book shows him drawing this house. He dreams up all the cool things in his special house. These include a special bed, a special shelf, and special chairs. There's also a special door, special walls, and a special table.
He invites many friends to his special house. These include a turtle, a rabbit, and even a giant! He also brings monkeys, some "skunkeys," and a very old lion. The lion gets a bit hungry and eats all the stuffing from the "chairs chairs chairs."
The boy and his friends play together. They make secrets, laugh, and run around. They even pretend to be chickens and sing! Their play gets super wild and noisy. The boy says "nobody says stop stop stop."
Then, the boy explains that his house isn't a real place. It's "root in the moodle of my head head head." This means it's all in his imagination! The pictures show him sleeping in a bouncy bed. He bounces off the bed and somersaults through the air. The book ends with a picture of the little boy. He's looking over his shoulder with a mischievous smile.
