A Little House in a Big Place

A little girl watches a train pass her home each day. She waves at the train, and the engineer waves back. She wonders about where the train is going and what the world might be like beyond the horizon over which she watches the train disappear. In short, this is the essence of Alison Acheson and Valériane Leblond’s picture book A Little House in a Big Place.

The book has terrific potential, but I am afraid that it fails to deliver. It lacks the “punch” necessary to generate enthusiasm. There seems to be no major dramatic question upon which to hang a plot, and, as such, the text wanders rather aimlessly to what is an ending much too abrupt.

Despite my criticism, there is no denying the quality of the writing and the illustrations. There is a pleasant gentleness about Acheson’s lyrical written text. However, I wonder what is there for the young reader. There is a nostalgic reverie about the book that, for an adult reviewer, is agreeable but for children is not likely to be of appeal. I found myself asking the question, “Who is the audience for this book?” The media release states the book is for children ages 4-7 / pre-kindergarten to grade 2 students. Preschool and early years children are not going to understand nor appreciate the sentiments evoked by adult creators looking back with nostalgia. I understand that the girl’s departure (as a young woman) at the end of the book reflects the passing of the train, but this is too sophisticated and nostalgic a notion for preschoolers. Similarly, at what passes for the book’s climax it does not work to show the protagonist as a young woman heading off on her own as part of her passage to adulthood. This simply will not appeal to young children.

Anyway, I like the book, and I think it has many strengths. It just will not appeal to young children. The illustrations were created with a combination of gouache, oil pastels, and coloured pencils. Employing a naïve art style, Leblond’s illustrations capture the wind-swept wide-open spaces of the surroundings of the girl living in her little house with her parents. The written text and illustrations, however, require more action, drama, and excitement to be of widespread appeal. A Little House in a Big Place is a book for parents and grandparents to share with a special child and to then revisit on their own while the child is outside running and jumping and playing in the manner that the girl in the book would presumably love to do.