4/3/2022 Picture Book Round-Up: Hideaways & Endless Seas

We’ve been doing a lot of home & yard renovations lately. Tree-cutting & trimming, moving furniture around, buying fruit trees for the garden, etc. As I supervise & dream about building treehouses with my own kiddos one day in our little forest, it all brings me back to some of my favorite memories – making bedsheet castles in the playroom, claiming secret areas in my neighborhood as my own personal hideaway, & watching the sun set on the water at Marco Island, so brightly that the sea melded with the sky. I tried to choose books this week that matched those special moments & harkened to the inner child in us all. That feeling of being absolutely in charge of your own destiny starts with feeling in charge of your own spit of land, be it real or imaginary. There’s pride in ownership. It jolts awake here.

Picture Book 1 (because we all want to run away sometimes)

Title: Andrew Henry’s Meadow

Author & Illustrator: Doris Burn

Recommended for: Grades 3-4

Basic plot: Andrew Henry doesn’t feel appreciated by his family. He’s incredibly good with his hands & can build just about anything he puts his mind to, but his parents don’t seem to value his carpentry talents. So he does what any kid with a shred of pride would do – he strikes out into the nearby meadow & builds himself a house. Pretty soon, the other village kids follow & Andrew Henry ends up being the chief architect of their rebellious DIY community.

Why I love it: This book is just as relevant today as it was in 1967. Before there was Iggy Peck, Architect, there was Andrew Henry. I love the idea of kids “seceding” from their parents & striking out on their own. I love the sense of togetherness & collaboration they share. I love the eclectic houses & creativity put into them.

In today’s world, the word “emancipation” is used when a teenager effectively forswears their family & becomes their own guardian. There’s always anger & fanfare involved, but in this story, that’s replaced with a heavy pang of nostalgia & loneliness that plague the fledgling kid-town. It is a very realistic & almost dreamlike story that has a Neverland feel to it. In trying their best to not grow up & renege on their dreams, they end up shedding their innocence even quicker. Beautifully done, reminiscent of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine, with just a smidgeon of southern gothic for flavor. I mean, the kids are gone for four days & nights & not all the parents are clued in to where they disappeared to. Can you even imagine that happening today?

This is such a simple & predictable story, but the way the children try to be their own person & the innate beauty & satisfaction they take in their solitary hideaways is deeply stirring.

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks, OverDrive (cheapest $6.99 & up, used). The reissue that Burn authorized right before her death in 2011 is just as sumptuous as the original, so don’t bother splurging on a first edition.

Extension activity: Either have your child build their own Rube Goldberg type machine or carpentry project (treehouses if the HOA allows it), or have them design one on paper. There are tons of Airbnbs & famous tree houses in the U.S. they can research for ideas:

They can also describe what their perfect hideaway would look like & what they would need to make it self-sufficient.

If all else fails, crank out the bedsheets & folding chairs & make a fort in the house! The memories you create will be worth the eventual all-hands-on-deck clean-up.

Picture Book 2 (where the sea meets the sky)

Title: Teacup

Author: Rebecca Young

Illustrator: Matt Ottley

Recommended for: Grades K-2

Basic plot: A boy leaves his home by way of boat, taking only a teacup with a seed in it. The rest is imagination unbound.

Why I love it: It truly reminds me of Life of Pi, since the imagery of a boy in a boat, silhouetted like a pressed flower against the backdrop of ocean, is quite prevalent here. I love the refugee allegory woven throughout, the beauty of plants, the curlicues of clouds, the wisps of wisdom. Plus, the entire cover reminds me of Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat. What’s not to love?

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks, OverDrive (cheapest $1.85 & up, used).

Extension activity: I’m sure there are dozens of resources to pair with this, but I suggest wading with caution, since this can quickly lend itself to a discussion about war & migration that may become depressing. As always, you are the authority on what your child is & isn’t ready for & how best to have difficult conversations. Beyond that, this is just a nice book in its own right, even if it doesn’t go farther than “Wow, that’s pretty.”

One idea might be to ask your kiddo what they would bring if they had to escape with only one item as an option. You may be surprised by whether they learn towards sentimentality or necessity.

You could also probe – how would they prevent themselves from getting lonely? Where would they go? How would they occupy themselves? What skills would they endeavor to learn? What creatures might they encounter?

Thanks for tuning in! Keep the pages turning until we meet again.

Love,

Sash