Carin Berger

The best part of this book was the lovely paper cut-out artwork that combined notepaper, construction paper, patterned sheets, and other paper paraphernalia to craft a super pretty woodland. This story as a whole has a calm, soothing feel to it but is also embedded with a sense of curiosity- all in all a great children's book!

Brilliant illustrations. There is a page I would love to have framed. It is of an owl made of cut-up receipts. The owl is hooting, represented by a cut-up musical sheet, into the night air. Just lovely.

The text does not put it over the top like the illustrations, but still a beautiful read.

I wanted the cat to be Cupcake, but I guess it's the house!

Anyway. This has a lot of details that will probably be slowly discovered during multiple readings, which is something I love in a picture book. I can imagine a grown-up and child reading it regularly and noticing new things each time... The pictures in the little girl's room. The cat on every page. The writing on the recycled paper. How the book goes through the seasons. Are those flowers made from buttons?

There's not a lot to this. It's only ten pages long (plus a fold-out section). The message is to stop driving so much and find other, better ways to get around. The art was pretty cool, but I'm only giving it two stars because I thought it lacked substance. You may enjoy the simplicity of it, though.