Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

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Life Imitating Art

6 Comments

Soft House

My boys and I must have read Jane Yolen’s SOFT HOUSE when it first came out in 2005. If not then, it was sometime soon after, because “soft house” feels like it’s been a part of our family vocabulary forever.

This is our most recent soft house, one that was up for two days, a place we read CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR in the stifling heat and tried to keep the dog from knocking down walls.
I love the way stories and their words become a part of our conversations around here, things like “You can’t have that wish, my Little Bear.”

Little Bear (An I Can Read Book)
 Or we’ll talk about the things that “all come out even,” like Francis’s lunch box meal (once she gave up on the bread and jam).
Bread and Jam for Frances (I Can Read Book 2)
When a family member does something impressive, we might quote Pepito’s brothers and sisters.
Pepito the Brave
When someone mentions the park, that creature named Clark comes to mind.
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish (I Can Read It All by Myself)
What bookish things have become a part of your family’s words or routines?

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Filed Under: books and reading, family

Comments

  1. Jane Gray says

    August 12, 2011 at 10:37 am

    That soft den reminds me so much of the ones I used to build with my girls! We used to say “Can’t you sleep little bear?” after their beloved book, when they were disturbed in the night.
    I recently posted a poem called ‘Little Girl Lost’ about the sadness of losing these precious years on my blog, and had lots of tearful comments from readers!
    Thanks for the memory 🙂 The Time Sculptor

    Reply
  2. Natalie Aguirre says

    August 12, 2011 at 10:42 am

    We used to love Little Bear. And of course all the Dr. Seuss books and many others. But I can’t say that we quoted them like you. Still we have many happy memories reading together when my daughter was younger.

    Reply
  3. Faith E. Hough says

    August 12, 2011 at 12:17 pm

    I love the soft house! Now I want to go make one with my girls…
    It is funny how that happens–the Dr. Seuss-esque books seem particularly catchy. My two year old always washes her “hand hand fingers thumb…dum ditty…” etc. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Heidi Willis says

    August 12, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    I’ve never heard of a “soft house” but we make them all the time! (They are the best places to read!!) Now I’ll have to find the book!

    We quote books all the time, too. Most all are from picture books we read with the kids when they were little. I never thought about how full our language is of them!

    Reply
  5. SarahAnn says

    August 12, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    Reminds me of the amazing tents my mom used to build in our living room.

    Got my bookmarks!!! They look so great!

    Reply
  6. Emily Casey says

    August 15, 2011 at 4:02 pm

    My little girl is only three, so we’re still building our library. (I just added a couple books to our library list, so thank you for the recommendations!)

    DD is a big fan of Robert Munsch books, so we have phrases like:
    “Daddy, good food!”
    and sometimes my daughter will color “oranges that are oranger than oranges” and “cow plops that smell like cow plops”

    Thanks for the great post!

    Reply

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