Working in the Children’s Library this past year I have been making more of a point of reading children’s and young adult chapter books. In doing so, it has been easy to remember why I fell in love with reading in the first place. I recently read Growing Home written by Beth Ferry and Illustrated by the Fan Brothers.
In this book you meet a variety of characters, such as a grumpy goldfish, two indoor plants, and the Tupper family, which consists of two antiquarians and their daughter Jillian. Each of these characters have one big thing in common, they all reside at Number 3 Ramshorn Drive. Kids and adults alike will love the cheese puff and soccer loving goldfish, Toasty, the very confident indoor plant, Ivy, and other quirky characters.
I personally thought that the non-human characters stole the show, or story, in this book.
As the story progresses, the family has no idea that the non-human characters in their home are utilizing magic and befriending each other. The Tuppers are focused on their never-ending bills, and a man who is trying to buy one of their most prized possessions—the fish tank Toasty the goldfish lives in. The creatures realize that it is up to them to stop a possible theft and keep their humans safe!
One thing that I found the author did very well is describe different words and phrases to the reader directly. The way it is done was a great way to incorporate new, fun words into kids’ vocabularies. Another thing that I really appreciated about this book was the incredible artwork by the Fan Brothers. Their illustrations do a great job showing off the characters and setting’s whimsical nature. If you are not familiar with the Fan Brothers, they are well known in the children’s literature world for writing and illustrating various picture books, which we also have in our picture book collection.
I recommend this book to children and adults alike. With short chapters and fun illustrations this book would make a great read aloud for younger children. It really is a great story showing us all the importance of friendship, with a small sprinkling of magic to tie it all together. I found this book to be a reminder of how even a simple story can be a powerful lesson.
You can find Growing Home in our collection, in print and in ebook and eaudiobook on Boundless.
P.S. While I am a huge fan of eaudiobooks, I feel that this is a book you would benefit from reading a physical, or ebook copy due to the beautiful illustrations throughout the book.
