Module 3 | The Little House

PLOT SUMMARY
The Little House rests comfortably on a hillside in the country, where she watches the seasons change and day turn to night. Despite her happy existence, she can't help but wonder about the faraway lights of the city. Soon enough, the city begins to surround the little house, until she is abandoned and all but forgotten between two enormous skyscrapers. Luckily, the great-great-granddaughter of the Little House's original owner stumbles across her and decides to move her back to the country, where the Little House lives quietly, peacefully, and happily.

MY IMPRESSIONS
This 1943 winner of the Caldecott Medal is incredibly moving and observant, operating as both a critique of urban sprawl and an ode to the swift passage of time. Although some might consider author and illustrator Virginia Lee Burton's work simplistic compared to modern Caldecott winners, the illustrations are more than effective in illustrating the peaceful contentedness of the Little House's life in the country and the hopelessly claustrophobic feel of her city existence. Her depictions of a bustling city are spot on, with the rich greens of the country slowly replaced by charcoal black. The Little House is a wonderful installment in the list of books that teach readers to never forget the things we value most.

REVIEWS
"Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House begins with a promise, evolves into a heart-tugging drama, and closes on a pleasing note. A simple story. A simple message."
Barbara Ellemen, School Library Journal, August 1, 2002, Vol. 48, No. 8

"I have returned to The Little House over and over, sinking into its colorful, complicated pictures all through childhood and adolescence and adulthood. First my parents read it to me; then I read it to myself. When my children came along I read it to them, and now that they've outgrown it (as if you could ever really outgrow it!), I read it again to myself."
Anne Tyler, The New York Times Book Review, Nov. 9, 1986

USES IN THE LIBRARY
The Little House could be the jumping off point for an arts-and-crafts session in which children draw or paint a picture of their dream house. It might also be fun to incorporate it into a "Caldecott Pick of the Month" selection, where kids could write or draw their feelings about each book on index cards that would then be displayed on a bulletin board, along with a photo of the book cover.

CITATION
Burton, Virgina Lee (1942). The little house. New York: Houghton Mifflin.