Book Review: A Little House in a Big Place

A Little House in a Big Place by Alison Acheson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where I grew up in Canada is in a city on the cusp of the Rocky Mountains and the prairies. We traveled a lot to camp in areas that were only a few hours from our home. So many of those trips were spent on the flat prairies of Saskatchewan or Alberta. Like in this book; most roads and homes are built on the major thoroughfares which all have railroads. So trains were always a large part of our trips. Following them, waiting for them, listening to them, etc. In fact one campground we stayed at had a train go through and blow it's horn on the hour, every hour ALL night long. Needless to say we didn't spend more than one night there!

Because of this background I really loved Little House in a Big Place and it's focus on the schedule trains have. They can help keep time for children, provide good safety teaching opportunities and of course, most engineers will blow their whistle (if allowed in the are) when they see children waving at them. It's a bit odd to me that the cover of this book shows the train at night; even though the train is actually seen every morning by our little girl. The idea of an engineer changing routes and leaving his hat behind for the little girl feels so very Canadian! The writer of this story is from Canada; and the illustrator from France. The wonderful illustrations in this are bright and feel perfect fora children's book; while the writing is exactly the right amount of words and has a lovely cadence to it.

There is one odd piece to this book that I think makes a leap/jump that many children may not inherently understand. (spoilers ahead)

At the end of the book we see the connection between the little girl, her growing up and leaving home; and then her singing in a cafe. While this will make sense to adults I'm not sure children will really understand the concept here. I think it would have been better if the story ended with the little girl leaving home on the train. A perfect circular loop that joins the beginning of our girls time watching trains to her ultimately leaving on one. However, as this can easily be explained by the adult reading the story, I am not knocking off a star for it.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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