The Great Blue House

by Kate Banks, Georg Hallensleben (Illustrator)

An award-winning team again join their talents

When summer ends, a family pack their suitcases and bid the big blue house farewell. All seems quiet. But soon the leaves change color; then comes the snow. A cat creeps into the house and curls up in the woodbox. A mouse tucks himself into a cupboard. When spring comes, the garden awakens, and by summer the house is bustling with human life once more.

This unusual story about a summer house that welcomes all sorts of guests in the off-season celebrates the rhythm and cycle of the seasons, and reminds us all that we share our world – even our homes – with other living creatures.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Summer, Storytime, Animals, Cats

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 10, 2005

About the author

Kate Banks has written many books for children, among them Max’s Words, And If the Moon Could Talk, winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and The Night Worker, winner of the Charlotte Zolotow Award. She grew up in Maine, where she and her two sisters and brother spent a lot of time outdoors, and where Banks developed an early love of reading. “I especially liked picture books,” she says, “and the way in which words and illustrations could create a whole new world in which sometimes real and other times magical and unexpected things could happen.” Banks attended Wellesley College and received her masters in history at Columbia University. She lived in Rome for eight years but now lives in the South of France with her husband and two sons, Peter Anton and Maximilian.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/katebanks

Reviews

[Robert Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A year in the 'life' of a vacation summer house. The art is colorful and pleasant, but not very sharp. The artist is Georg Hallensleben who has been said to: "compose space like Matisse and loads his brush with paint like Van Gogh..." -STARRED REVIEW/Publishers Weekly And I would add that he paints like Monet, when his eyesight was failing and his paintings were softened and unfocused. It is a pleasant story about life and activity in a seemingly barren environment.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful text and gouaches show the life of and in a house while it is closed up for the winter, but still home to a drippy faucet, a mouse, a spider, a cat, a bird. “All is quiet at the great blue house. Or is it?” Poetic and meditative.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous paintings and a celebration of the seasons makes this a wonderful, rather dreamy story. It's a summer house, and the family says goodbye, unknowing that others will live in the house as "the leaves flutter and shake as they float to the ground" and "snow falls lightly on the roof". There is a cat, a mouse, a bird, a spider, all taking advantage of the shelter. It's a beautiful and nostalgic book, yet I had a few questions. I worried about the cat when winter came, but it seems that it came in and out, so it is not stranded. The pipes freeze, then thaw with a drip, so there is water. When I've had pipes freeze, it is a big problem. If you've read this, did you wonder about these things, too?

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Banks Vault #20
Back to a shorter work by Banks with #20 of her works.
This one is an OK yarn with some nice moments, and nice illustrations.
Thos enamoured by the colour blue, and this is a particularly fine shade of the aforementioned colour will no doubt enjoy the visual aspect more than others.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the summer a family enjoys living in a big blue house in the country. At the end of the season, they pack up and leave the house empty of people, but the reader will discover a lot going on in that house before the family comes back the following summer. Nicely illustrated enjoyable story.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the things that go on in an empty house.

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

1/12/21 Read with Julia

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The seasons of a summer house from the perspective of all the inhabitants.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for this book about the seasons of a summer house

[Jayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who is feeding the cat?! This book is just too weird. I don’t know what it is about Banks picture books but they are wordy, cold, and amazingly pointless. The illustrations are good though.

[Bvlmc Buchanan Verplanck Elementary School · Rating 2 out of 5]

What goes on in an empty summer house during the other three seasons? Ask mouse, cat and bird as a house serves as a backdrop to all the sounds of the seasons.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the second book rented in the quest to help my 3 year old son understand the seasons. I appriciated the beautiful pictures, the story itself and the attempt at incorportating the sounds and sights of the seasons, ie watching frost on windows and the sounds of the panes buckling and cracking. In all a beautiful book... from an adult standpoint. Unfortunatly, all of this was lost on my son who ditched me less than half way though the reading. Maybe he got something out of it but it would better suit an older child and/or have to develop with many readings over years of development. In defense of this book, my son says "yeah" when I asked him if he liked it. Maybe I'll try it again when his attention span is better before I take it back to the library.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just discovered a collection of Kate Banks books that I really love. This one, about a summer home in the off season, was truly wonderful I enjoyed it thoroughly and the presence of great literary devices only served to enrich the experience. Very nicely done.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bold illustrations
When its owners leave, a summer house comes alive with the sounds of a mouse nibbling crumbs in the fall, a cat taking shelter in the winter, and rain falling on the roof in the spring.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the cute story of a vacation house that is just bustling with activity during the summer, but after all the visitors leave, things are pretty dull and boring. Or are they? I enjoyed reading this book to my boys and they seemed to enjoy it as well.

[Sam Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to use to talk about setting or descriptive writing.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminds me of summer and my lake house. The house is filled with people and activity but once summer is over only the mice will play.

[Joe Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story about the life of a vacation house over the course of a year. Good way to imagine what might go on it a child's own home when noone is there.

[Katie Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

We loved this: so poetic and so simple. We read this during breakfast every day for the 9 weeks we had it from the library.

[Kiddo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave it five stars based on my daughter's fascination with it. I don't know why but she loved it and we had to read every night for weeks on end.

[Shelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story and the art reminded my of Goodnight Moon. Leaving me to believe this would be a very good bed time story.

[Tina]

The elementary art teacher loves this books! I don't think the story is that amazing but I do think the illustrations are fantastic!

[Aleta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures.

[lola Franco · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really love banks' books. her paintings are exquisite. and i love that they take place in france. as always her story is wonderful.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My blue-obsessed baby loved this book and it was cute to watch the cat and the mouse.

[Mrs. Gabrielle Zastrow's · Rating 5 out of 5]

The organized this book by writing about the seasons, life cycles, and using the 5 senses, especially listening. It was a sweet story that the whole class enjoyed.

[Meghan Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like all the sensory detail on this book.

[Amanda Walz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book about sounds. That even when you would think there isn't any, if you are still you can hear them.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the pictures but didn't hold the interest of my daughter.