The Little House

After the folks in your home thoroughly enjoy Katy, re-read Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House.  If there's one book that I never tire of reading and looking at the illustrations, it's one of the all-time best-loved children's books The Little House, 1942 winner of the Caldecott Medal.  It's also a story that resonates with the oldest of us.  Just glancing at the cover can bring sunshine into the rainiest of days.  The mere cadence of the story bewitches any listening audience, so imagine adding captivating storyline and illustrations. Here's how it all begins:

Once upon a time there was a Little House way out in the country.  She was a pretty Little House and she was strong and well built.  The man who built her so well said, "This Little House shall never be sold for gold or silver and she will live to see our great-great-granchildren's great-great-granchildren living in her."

While telling the little house's dramatic life story, Burton calls us to appreciate the rising and setting of the sun, the altering phases of the moon, the changing of the seasons, and those areas that allows us to view these things in their fullness.  By the time you reach then end of Burton's well woven story, you'll feel all warm inside like you just nursed a mug of hot cocoa, complete with marshmallows on top.  Even the end pages boast the extraordinary, setting up the storyline at the very first page turn.

The Little House remains one of those jewel of a books to be sure to introduce to your children.  I would love to hear your particular memories of reading Virginia Lee Burton's beloved story.