Home

Home is written by Jeannie Baker. It was published in 2004 by Greenwillow Books. 

Lexile Level: NP (Non-Prose)        Ages: 4-8

NP: Non-Prose

 
The NP code is for any book comprising more than 50% non-standard or non-conforming prose. NP books do not receive a Lexile measure, merely the NP code. Some common examples of non-prose content are poems, plays, songs, recipes, and text with non-standard or absent punctuation.  (Lexile.com)

Summary:

     Home is a wordless book that takes the reader through an urban journey. Every double page is a view through the same window, a view that changes over a generation, beginning with a couple expecting a baby and continuing as the baby grows up, is courted, and is married in the neighborhood street. At the beginning the is smog ruining the view of the neighborhood, but gradually there are changes. The community paints over graffiti on buildings, plant local plants, a glimpse over the river appears, cyclists and people are everywhere, and birds are on the roof and soaring through the sky. Even at night there is a clear sky allowing the large moon to be seen.

Evaluation:

      Home by Jeannie Baker relates to "The Curious Garden" because in both books, industry is tackled by those citizens who take an interest in natural beautification. Although, I found "The Curious Garden" to have unrealistic images, Home was opposite it displayed more realistic images of a town transforming. Buildings were getting torn down and trees were getting planted. Jeannine Baker displays a diverse community as the environment becomes healthier. She displays older people, children, middle-aged people, white people, and people with dark skin.

     Overall, this book addresses the relationship people have with the environment and how over time they can make a change for the better by introducing old plants and animals back.

Illustrations and Elements:

     Baker uses full page illustrations which make the story come alive to the reader. Each page is a view from a girls bedroom looking over her neighborhood. Baker takes this view and makes changes as the story progresses. She not only does this on the outside, but also the inside. Baker gives clues about the girl Tracy's age as the community grows just as if the reader is growing with her. Not only does Baker offer incredible illustrations she made this a wordless book leaving the illustrations for interpretation and thought. 

1. Characters: The girl (Tracy), her parents, and neighbors. 
2. Setting: A view through Tracy's bedroom window looking out at her community. See apartments, the river, car dealership, and other buildings. 
3. Theme: Introducing plants and animals back into the environment to create a lush and active community. 

In the Classroom:

      This book would be useful in the classroom because it is a book that could be used in a lesson focusing on the environment and its changes over the last twenty years. Baker takes the time to make small changes in each window display, some changes may include a building being painted or the sky is clear. Baker also showed through this wordless story that re-building a community into something beautiful takes time (a whole generation). A teacher could bring in a discussion about the importance of bringing back local plants and animals and why the community would benefit from the growth of plants and animals. This story could also be used to teach working together towards a common goal. As the child grew older and older the community becomes more and more involved in the improvement to their neighborhood. This neighborhood would continue to be filled with smog and pollution from cars, but all the members in the community took initiative and helped introduce plants and animals. This book would be a good way to start a discussion about the coming together to do something great for the environment because the students will interpret the pages in a variety of ways.


 Baker, J. (2004). Home. New York: Greenwillow Books.