"A quietly macabre peep-through board book, perfect for sharing – and scaring – with young readers. "
In this appealing house-shaped board book, an unseen narrator takes the reader on a tour through an empty house, with chunky die-cuts representing the windows and doors... but is the house really empty? Readers will feel a gleeful shiver as the narrator travels from room to room, pointing out various household objects, but never its ghostly inhabitant, who holds our gaze until the final page.
Klassen’s idiosyncratic style and muted colour palette lends itself perfectly to this spooky tale. As author-illustrator he excels at telling an entirely different story through illustration than through text – which elevates and allows for deeper engagement with both – of withholding easy answers, and of ambiguous endings. Notably, the book’s opening lines near-repeat at its close, but the illustrations have transitioned from day to night, almost without us noticing.
A grown-up reading this with a child will enjoy the pantomime of disputing the existence of anything else on the pages. They will also be best placed to judge the child’s appetite for spook – and the implication that the house’s inhabitant may have passed away – with the wide-eyed ghost hovering somewhere between unsettling and adorable, depending on who you ask (adorable, says this reviewer!).
The perfect read for autumn and winter evenings, and ideal for fans of This Is Not My Hat, There’s a Ghost in this House, and Funnybones.
"A spooky house tour, unafraid to redefine what board books are capable of achieving." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Peek through doors and windows to explore a mysterious house in this innovative shaped novelty book for young readers who relish the lightly spooky, from the Caldecott Medal-winning and New York Times bestselling Jon Klassen, creator of I Want My Hat Back and The Skull.
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And more. What's missing from this house?
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed The House With Nobody in It and determined it is suitable for children aged 3-6 years old
The House With Nobody in It features in the following genres: Featured Books for 3+ readers, Featured Books for 5+ readers, Recommendations, Star Books, Fantasy / Magical, Horror & Ghost Stories, Children’s: picture books, activity books, early learning concepts, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Children's and Young Adult Fiction
Board book. Not Available.
The House With Nobody in It was written by Jon Klassen and published by Candlewick Press
The House With Nobody in It has 18 pages
