The Perfectly Orderly House

by Ellen Kindt McKenzie, Megan Lloyd (Illustrator)

An old woman builds a house with twenty-six rooms and keeps all her possessions in alphabetical order, but she still can't find anything.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Ms. McKenzie is a retired writer who wrote part time between the 60's and 90's, her writing subscribes to her philosophy that writing for children should not be dumbed down or held to a low standard, but rather held to the same level of respectability as adult literature. She is also a concert pianist and loves mythology and history.

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny book about a silly lady and her house. She finally gets the orderly home she wants AFTER she moves most of the things she doesn't NEED out of her little house and into an odd house of alphabet "rooms". 3.5 stars

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book ain't for the hoarders, y'all. I felt personally attacked (but in a humorous way). The gist is, an old woman has so much junk that she can't easily find anything when in a pinch. So, she gets her carpenter brother to literally build extra additions to her house so each room can represent items of a certain letter. The house spans the entire alphabet. It's ludicrous. Nothing makes sense. It will trigger those with OCD. But the cross-sections and the way the house looks like a ramshackle Great Wall of China, and the old lady wanting to throw a party to celebrate her "tidiness", are really fun to watch.

[The Brothers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a bit tedious because it's so wordy about a woman creating (alphabetically) a room for all the things in her house. Her method of arranging things to find them proves to be quite inefficient.

Illustrations are ok.

[Lady reading under the Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is cute and amusing while simultaneously exasperating! The illustrations are quite detailed, and it's a fun (and unusual) story about the alphabet, which does not employ the typical ABC-book format.

[Juli Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wacky game of spot-the-alphabet.