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A House that Once Was

Book Synopsis

Two children come across an abandoned house deep in the woods and imagine who could have lived there.

Deep in the woods
is a house
just a house
that once was
but now isn’t
a home.

A House That Once Was is a beautifully illustrated exploration of time, imagination and the nature of home that is sure to provoke discussion. Lane’s artwork is a riot of colour and rich texture that perfectly matches the poetic text written by the New York Times -bestselling author, Julie Fogliano.

This evocative, rhyming story is perfect for reading out loud.

Our Review Panel says...

Rhythmical and enchanting, A House that Once Was is a picture book about imagining and connecting with how things might have been different in other times. Deep in the woods two children discover an old house; “a house that once was but now isn’t a home”. The children enter the house through a broken window and it is immediately clear that the house used to be somebody’s home, as the pair discover faded pictures, empty food jars and abandoned music records. The children begin to imagine different possibilities about who the house’s former occupants could have been and where they have gone; perhaps a boy who built flying machines or a girl who has become shipwrecked on a desert island and now wears ‘coconut clothes and a pineapple tie’. After their fanciful adventures, the two children return to their own house where dinner is waiting and the rooms are cosy and warm, and unlike the house in the woods is definitely a ‘home’.

This is a wonderful book to use with KS1 for sparking discussions about how a house becomes a home and to set children off on their own imaginative adventures about who might have once inhabited the house in the woods.

This book is available on these booklists:

A House that Once Was

The House that Once Was

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