There's No Place Like Home

by Marc Brown, Espeland

Describes in verse the many kinds of homes--holes for worms, swamps for crocodiles, or a cat for fleas.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1984

About the author

Marc Tolon Brown is perhaps best known for his series of children's books about Arthur the aardvark, which was turned into an animated television show on PBS. Brown is a three-time Emmy Award winner, for his role on the television show inspired by his books.

He lives on Martha's Vineyard and in New York City with his wife, Laurie Krasny Brown. He has three children, sons Tolon and Tucker, and daughter Eliza. The names of his two sons have been hidden in all of the Arthur books except for one: Arthur's Tooth.

Reviews

[Tessa Hensley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that is told in a rhyming poetic way. The pictures are very simple, but colorful and cute. They go well with the story. It talks about all the different places that can be a home. I think this would be a good book to read before starting a lesson about habitats. Students could get the idea from the book that everything has a home but their definition may be different than our definition, or a cat's definition of a home. After reading they could think of as many different types of homes/habitats as possible and research their favorite ten to find out more about them. They may choose igloos, fox dens, bear caves, rabbit holes, or even modern day human houses, just to name a few. Whatever they choose to do their research on they have to find out how to build it, what kind of materials it takes, what lives in it, is it warm, cold, small, big? Then they will choose the home they find the most interesting and recreate a small version of it using materials that the real owners of that type of home would have used. The write a rhyming poem about the home that you built using the other information you now know about it.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great, pre-Arthur (I think) Marc Brown book. Really great illustrations!

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Any modern child will scoff at the first page, with cavemen fleeing dinosaurs. The rest is just a cartoony litany of many many different kinds of homes. No heart, just a rhyming list. (I do wish I know how it got on my to-read list.)

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels like the brother of Theo LeSieg's "Come Over To My House" and I can't unsee it. 4 stars because, alas, no lovable, hubris-loving wombats of PBS fame.