House

By Dan Giovannoni & Charlotte Lane 

Reviewed by Lara Cain Gray

‘Sometimes it feels like all you need is a little shelter from the storm…’ This is the story of a lonely little house who has no one to open its front door and enjoy the warm welcome inside. The house decides to go in search of a friend, launching itself off its foundations and into the sky, across the world, until it senses a similar feeling of loneliness in a child shielding herself from stormy weather. The child enters and finds many comforts – a big plush chair, a pot of hot chocolate with marshmallows, books to read and games to play. She has a wonderful time, but soon realises that her ‘stormy’ feelings are not completely gone.

The house explains that these feelings will always come and go, but that there are ways to reframe our feelings, seek opportunities for self-care, and look for the beauty in the most difficult experiences. As they finally part ways again, they take solace in the knowledge that ‘even the very worst storms don’t last forever.’ The language is poetic, though with a straightforward vocabulary. Early readers will not struggle with the words, but may need some scaffolding around the messages.

Dan Giovannoni and Charlotte Lane hark from a theatre background and collaborated on an iteration of this story for Barking Gecko Arts in 2021. Lane’s set design for that performance offers a similar sort of house – wildly higgledy-piggledy and stuffed with quirky details. The picture book format allows Lane to further explore the whimsical notion of a house as central character without the restrictions required to move a cast through its doors. This provides for lots of detail in house interiors, for example, that could be enjoyable during shared reading.

‘House’ feels like a very small title for a very big book, figuratively speaking. It has substantial themes told through metaphor, complex illustrations, and just that little bit extra put into every facet, from evocative endpapers to varying spread layouts. It’s almost TOO much on first read, and young readers will likely benefit from slow investigation and re-reads over time to fully engage. This could be an excellent picture book for adult gifting, however, or for exploring personal and social capability, art theory, theatre, or visual literacy with upper school year levels.

Fremantle Press 2024

Dan Giovannoni 

Charlotte Lane

Lara Cain Gray is the author of the recently published The Grown-Ups Guide to Picture Books.