One of the many books listed in my curriculum book, Picture Book Preschool, A House Is a House for Me rhymes itself through all of the houses and containers and enclosures you could imagine with a lilting meter that maintains its rhythm throughout its 48 pages. Actually, this maintenance of meter and rhyme is no small accomplishment considering the many children’s books I’ve read that start out well but fail to maintain a readable rhythm, making them difficult to read aloud to oneself or to children.

A hill is a house for an ant, an ant.
A hive is a house for a bee.
A hole is a house for a mole or a mouse
And a house is a house for me!

A web is a house for a spider.
A bird builds its nest in a tree.
There is nothing so snug as a bug in a rug
And a house is a house for me!

The poem, in its clever and inventive take on houses, is the heart of this picture book, but the illustrations by illustrator Betty Fraser add a second dimension of joy and colorful imagination to this picture book. The book could certainly spark a Five-in-a-Row type unit study on houses and homes as well as a more advanced study of animal habitats or even of boxes and house construction and the manufacture of homes and containers.

And once you get started in thinking this way,
It seems that whatever you see
Is either a house or it lives in a house,
And a house is a house for me!

A House Is a House For Me was the winner of a National Book Award in 1983 for the paperback edition of the book, and author Mary Ann Hoberman, Children’s Poet Laureate (2008-2011), has written many other well known and beloved picture books, including Seven Silly Eaters, All Kinds of Families, and Not Enough Beds for the Babies. Her 1978 book The Llama Who Had No Pajama is a collection of Ms. Hoberman’s poetry, also illustrated by Betty Fraser.

Picture Book Preschool Book of the Week: A House Is a House For Me by Mary Ann Hoberman

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase an updated, downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.