Welcome to My House by Gaia Stella

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Welcome to My House: A Collection of First Words by Gaia Stella, and Italian author and illustrator, is the kind of picture book I love. One review called it a "domestic taxonomy," and that fits perfectly. Welcome to My House is a visual list of everything you would find in a house, grouped by commonalities. There are two page spreads that shows, "Everything for sitting," and "Everything that brightens," along with "Everything for tinkering," and "Everything for organizing." Readers are also treated to, "Everything that passes time," and, "Everything that shows time passing," and, best of all, "Everything that gets lost. "Items on the page are labeled, for the most part...

Welcome to My House: A Collection of First Words begins with a narrator greeting readers and introducing herself as, "Olga." She asks, "Can you find me? I live with my family on the second floor of the pale green apartment building." Readers with sharp eyes will notice a black cat somewhere on each two page spread, along with family members. The final two page spread shows the back of the pale green apartment building and a backyard with a big tree. Sitting on top of the tree is the black cat. The final words of Welcome to My House reveal a surprise! "And here I am," the narrator tells readers, " Did you find me? I'm the one with the long whiskers." Surprise!


Source: Review Copy

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