A Home Like This

Written by Laura Purdie Salas
Illustrated by Miriam Nerlove
Publisher: Creative Editions, 2025
ISBN: 978-1568463995 22 pages

Description

Homes throughout the natural world may be found in any manner of place, be made of any number of materials, and be permanent or temporary. As this poetic, illustrated board book makes the circuit from "big or little, below or above," the feature that seems to link all kinds of homes--including those of humans--is that they are places "where we love." Young readers and observers will enjoy naming the various animals and making comparisons among the types of dwellings as a positive sense of belonging is reinforced.

A home can be open
to cloud and sky…
or be sheltered,
snug, and
dry.

How this Book Got Started

An editor at Creative Editions approached me to see if I might want to write board books about 1) animal homes and 2) school. Yes, please! For the home book, they were looking for a lyrical approach, and I love survey-style nonfiction, where you look at a broad range of examples of one thing: in this case, home. I tried three different versions. One focused on materials homes are made of: twigs, a shell, a log, etc. Another focused on home activities, like eating, playing, and learning. And the third one, the one I eventually went with, focused on the overall kinds of homes, emphasizing opposites: open or closed, busy or quiet, etc. It was such a joy to play with these concepts!