There is no shortage of cliches about home: It’s where the heart is, there’s no place like it, and when you have to go there, they have to take you in. But the very idea of home is so rich and powerful that there always seems to be a fresh perspective on it and a new way to capture that special feeling. Both homebodies and explorers, young and old, will treasure these warmhearted riffs on the idea of home.
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“The Perfect Place” by Matt de la Peńa, illustrated by Paola Escobar. (Ages 4-8. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. $18.99.)
It’s a perfect day for Lucas, soaring through the school hallway, basking in the glow of a perfect grade on his perfect report. And then imperfect life intervenes: His father’s truck breaks down and he arrives home to find the electricity shut off again, his mother preparing for a night shift, putting on makeup by candlelight. Lucas’s triumph feels forgotten. This is home: “the paint peeling off the walls and the broken dresser drawers … the orange juice stain on the rug.”
That night, Lucas dreams of another place, a perfect place, where “a parade was arranged where the mayor presented him with the Medal of Perfection and recounted for the crowd each perfect thing Lucas had ever done.” It’s a glorious, sunny, clean, orderly place — until a little boy spills a cup of juice, and the tiny stain is all it takes to exile him from this world of perfection.
And with that, the spell is broken. Lucas backs away from the magical world and returns to his own “sagging old building” and bustling neighborhood, and wakes up to the messy reality of family love and a welcoming home that’s just “the right kind of imperfect.”
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“Being Home” by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Michaela Goade. (Ages 4-8. Kokila. $18.99.)
As the story opens, a Cherokee girl says farewell to city life, where “more houses go up. Fewer animal relatives visit. Our family is too far away.” But change — a new rhythm of life — is on the way, as she moves home “to our ancestors’ land and to our people.” Her arrival brings friends and relatives to help unpack, room to roam, the sound of a rollicking creek rather than the buzz of traffic.
Stunning pencil, gouache and digital illustrations capture the joy of exploration and connection as a family leaves behind the staccato drumbeat of city life for a new pace. The girl sighs, “I love the rhythm of being home.”
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“Back Home: Story Time with My Father” by Arléne Elizabeth Casimir, illustrated by Ken Daley. (Ages 4-8. Candlewick Press. $18.99.)
All of Daddy’s wonderful stories “begin with ‘lakay’ — back home.” And Lune treasures the tales her father tells of life in Haiti, stories based on childhood memories, stories with messages about truth and love, stories of the aspirations that led him to go to school and emigrate to a new country.
Lune loves these stories so much that she sneaks out of bed to wait up for her father, who is coming home late from his long shifts at work — and he understands right away what she wants. “His voice embraces me. He knows I am here for a story.”
The greatest gift Lune’s parents give her, though, is the understanding that she, too, has stories to tell, about her own life, stories to share with her parents and the world. A sensitive ode to immigrant families’ treasured connections to “back home” as well as the power of storytelling, Casimir’s book invites young readers to build and share their own stories about home, wherever it may be.
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“The Spaceman” by Randy Cecil. (Ages 3-7. Candlewick Press. $17.99.)
The spaceman isn’t impressed. In fact, “at first glance I thought this a rather ordinary planet,” he confesses, upon landing on Earth one starry night.
But when the petite traveler’s spaceship is stolen by a pesky bird, he’s forced to wander, admiring the plant life and encountering a “hideous beast” that at first seems to be a slavering monster but turns out to be an “unrefined … but charming” dog who just wanted to play.
After a joyous day of fun and exploration, the spaceman finds his missing spaceship and faces the sad task of returning to endless wandering. After all, “one does have one’s responsibilities.” Then again, if there were to be a mishap with the ship, he’d be forced to call this wondrous planet home, and continue “laughing and playing … and enjoying the gentle breeze with my friend.” It turns out this little spaceman knows an extraordinary home when he sees one.
Caroline Luzzatto has taught preschool and fourth grade. Reach her at luzzatto.bookworms@gmail.com
