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The Little House Book & Cassette (Carry Along Book & Cassette Favorites)
Availability:
In Stock
Price:
$9.95
$5.96*
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| Part No: | 0395891124 |
| Manufacturer: | Sandpiper |
| MFG Part: | HO-0395891124 |
| Customer Rating: | 5.0 / 5.0 |
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- ISBN13: 9780395891124
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
"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." So begins Virginia Lee Burton's classic The Little House, winner of the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 1943. The rosy-pink Little House, on a hill surrounded by apple trees, watches the days go, by from the first apple blossoms in the spring through the winter snows. Always faintly aware of the city's distant lights, she starts to notice the city encroaching on her bucolic existence. First a road appears, which brings horseless carriages and then trucks and steamrollers. Before long, more roads, bigger homes, apartment buildings, stores, and garages surround the Little House. Her family moves out and she finds herself alone in the middle of the city, where the artificial lights are so bright that the Little House can no longer see the sun or the moon. She often dreams of "the field of daisies and the apple trees dancing in the moonlight." Children will be saddened to see the lonely, claustrophobic, dilapidated house, but when a woman recognizes her and whisks her back to the country where she belongs, they will rejoice. Young readers are more likely to be drawn in by the whimsical, detailed drawings and the happy ending than by anything Burton might have been implying about the troubling effects of urbanization. (Ages 3 to 6)
The little house first stood in the country, but gradually the city moved closer and closer. This professional narration of the classic story includes sound effects, original music, and page-turn signals. Side two contains an uninterrupted reading.
| One of the all-time-great classics of literature for toddlers. | 2010-05-06 | 5 / 5 |
| THE LITTLE HOUSE by Virginia Lee Burton is a 40-page book with 22 colored illustrations. Seven of the illustrations are panoramas, and extend from the far left to the far right, in the manner of a two page spread. The illustrations are very simple, and can be copied by many high school students. On the other hand, the author has developed a unique style, where clouds are disclosed as a repeating motif, where the sky has an arched line of 12 repeated suns, each bearing a grin, yawn, or wink. Four newly plowed farmfields occur as a zig-zag motif. This same repeating motif technique was used and refined by famed Chicago artist, Roger Brown. Roger Brown's paintings feature farmlands, groups of misty hills, ocean waves, trucks weaving their way through a mountain pass, and disaster scenes. Ocean waves, sandhill cranes, cumulus clouds, and other natural forms, all disclosed in a distinctive repeating motif, can be found in many of Roger Brown's paintings. See, e.g., ROGER BROWN by Sidney Lawrence (1987).
THE LITTLE HOUSE begins like this: "Once upon a time there was a Little House way out in the country. She was a pretty Little House and shw was strong and well built. The man who built her said, "This Little House shall never be sold for gold or silver and she will live to see our great-grant-grandchildren's great-great-grandchildren living in her.""
In the pages that follow, the narration and illustrations take us through all four seasons, and then through many generatons. Once picture shows the Little House surrounded by snowy fields, with a horse-drawn sleigh in the foreground. But on page 14, a steam shovel and an asphalt-laying machine build a road through the farm. On page 17, a village has been built on the farmland. On page 19, tenement buildings replace the houses of the village (but the Little House still stands). By page 28, the tenements have been replaced by skyscrapers, but the Little House still stands. The text reads, "The Little House was very sad and lonely. Her paint was cracked and dirty, her windows were broken." But then, a distant relative of the man who built the house had the Little House restored and moved back to the countryside.
And so, there are three lessons:
(1) "Progress" is often inevitable, for better or for worse.
(2) Even when faced with the onslaught of progress and its challenges, there is always hope that the simplicity of the good old days will be restored.
(3) The third lesson is of questionable value. At the beginning of the book, the Little House notices the lights of the distant city, and is curious about those lights. But at the end of the book, the text reads, "Never again would she be curious about the city. Never again would she want to live there." This lesson is similar to that of SCUFFY THE TUGBOAT by Gertrude Crampton. But the lesson of SCUFFY THE TUGBOAT is reasonable, since it warns the toy tugboat not to do DANGEROUS things, like go down the river to the ocean harbor. But the similar lesson, as it appears in THE LITTLE HOUSE, is not a straightforward warning against DANGEROUS THINGS, but is a more encompassing warning about not being curious. At any rate, the book as a whole is a great classic of toddler's literature. |
| Even 3 year old can enjoy this book | 2010-03-25 | 5 / 5 |
| | I thought this book would be difficult for my 3 years old son to enjoy, but, when I first read to him, he likes it. Thereafter, he would ask me to read it over and over again. Even though he may not understand the message of urbanization in the story; but, there are plenty for him to enjoy. My son talks about the four seasons, in fact, he learns about the four seasons through this book. The illustrations are simple, but amazingly detail. My son would point out all the animals, flowers, children playing in the countryside and what they do in each season. When I get to the end of the page, he would say, "The little house is happy!" What a classic, I love this book and will own it for sure. |
| Sweet story | 2010-02-27 | 4 / 5 |
| | I enjoyed the story. It was a little beyond my grandchildren but they enjoyed the beginning. As they get older, it'll mean more to them. |
| my son looooves this book! | 2009-12-16 | 5 / 5 |
| | I remember reading this book as a child and loving it so I got this for my son (who just turned 4), not sure of what his reaction would be. Afterall, I'm a girl and it might be more of a girly sentimental story. But no, my son loved it. He got soo excited to see the same little house but everything around it changing. He even started screaming when I'd turn the page to show the buildings starting to grow taller and taller around the little house & make train sounds to show how busy the city life was. I asked him after reading him the story "do you like the city or the country"? And he said "the country b/c it is quiet & nice." :) |
| Great story, sad message... | 2008-10-08 | 5 / 5 |
| | I love the message of this book, but it is sad when we look around at our world today and see so much "country" turning into city. Loved this one as a child and am reading to my son now. |
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