MY HOUSE IS SINGING

In a set of poetic observations written with a child’s voice and sensibility, Rosenthal celebrates a house’s nooks and crannies, furnishings, noises, decorations, and general coziness. Caldecott Honor–winner Chodos-Irvine captures the writer’s ruminative tone with blocky, semi-abstract prints, done in vibrant colors and depicting a child of indeterminate race posed comfortably in pleasantly untidy domestic settings. The poems share a theme, but vary in form—and also mood, from a tongue-in-cheek inventory of “The Stuff Place” (“I’ve heard that garages / are built for cars. / There’s never been room / for one in ours”) to frustration at a stuck back door, plus shaped observations of a “Tired Light Bulb,” and a trail of “Ants!” in the kitchen. A confident debut for Rosenthal, and a strong follow-up for a talented award-winner. (Picture book/poetry. 6-9)