Review Of: “Building Our Home” by Jonathan Bean

  In Building Our House by Jonathan Bean the reader is told a story of how  the author’s family leaves the city and moves to the country to build a home from scratch.We are guided through this journey through the eyes of Jonathan Bean’s older sister. The family dynamic in this story is awesome. From the beginning both the mother and father contribute to the construction of their home. The father carries the tools, “The right tools for the right job”,  and the  mother carries the plans, ” A good plan for a good house”.  In several  pages there is team work between the  wife and the husband; when rocks are collected  the wife is carrying it  and the husband is placing another in a wheel barrel. The Illustrations are big and conveys the various tranformations  that occur pretty well. Specially, the tree that is barren in the beginning when we see the family driving away from the city, to the leaves being green and then copper; the rising of the house from foundation to wooden frames and the wife and kitten having babies.  The only caveat I have with this picture book  is with the narration. The work felt like a report rather than a story. The language was too choppy and did not flow like a continuous tale. Thus, making the story feel like a marathon of events, instead of  an engaging  personal account of a memorable experience.