Sometimes the simplest books are a parent's best friend at bedtime. Few words, pretty pictures, calming premise. These are the elements that come together perfectly in Case Jernigan's A Place to Live, a lovely book for a new reader--or a parent desperate to put a toddler to sleep. Either way, the results are magical.
A Place to Live hails from Home Grown Books, an outstanding small press in NYC, should you be the kind of parent always looking for something special for the bookshelf. All their books are developed in collaborations between outstanding artists and educators, and produced locally or with the help of fair trade global collectives. But my introduction to them was this sweet board book.
The pages consist of a series of muted watercolour paintings of the many places we can call home. So there must be a trend here, because we recently featured Home by Carson Ellis which also focuses on the many kinds of homes. Only Jernigan's board book features more fantastical, magical places like a castle on a cloud (Les Mis fans might appreciate that one), a tower on a whale, or an arc grounded up at the very tip of a mountain.
My kids love sharing where they'd want to live and where they wouldn't. And I like that it encourages them to think up new ones along the way.
Related: The 2014 best books for kids: All the lists in one place
While my seven year old daughter is compelled by this sweet little board book and even my fourth-grader peered down from his bunk bed to see what we were reading--a testament to its multi-age appeal--it was really my youngest son who was moved by its gentleness. The board book format is perfect for him and other emerging readers; and afterwards, he (admittedly, almost mysteriously) was lulled into an uncharacteristically peaceful state and totally ready for sleep by the end. Not going to lie: I now want to read A Place to Live to him many times a day. Alas, I will try to resist. Find beautiful collections of early reader books for creative kids, including A Place to Live by Case Jernigan at Home Grown Books. It's also available as part of their Adventuring Book Pack featuring 7 books illustrated by Jernigan.
