Review by Emma K. McNamara

Seiji Yoshida’s Houses with a Story, translated from Japanese to English by Jan Mitsuko Cash, showcases the floor plans of a variety of homes that one might find in literature. Each building is accompanied by a short description, annotations of the building’s contents, and who lives there and why. Fair-skinned characters, primarily men, are attributed with each building. Structures range in era from the Middle Ages to the present to dystopian futures. Many, like the Clinic in the Woods, seem to exist in a myriad of eras all at once. Some of the buildings are traditional structures, while others have more modern features. The floor plans incorporate eco-sustainability into the structures, like A Girl in the Submerged City, who has a rainwater tank on her tiny trellis. Each home receives two or four pages of illustrations and descriptions. Peppered throughout are sidebars that focus on a particular structural element, like types of roofs and how and why they are built in different regions of the world. The last quarter of the book provides historical commentary about each structure. There is something in this quiet book for readers of every genre and every preference, and the reader is easily able to imagine each type of life that they could live in each structure featured.  

Although the text is relatively short, because there are so many tidbits to read and such detailed illustrations to pore over, it is nonetheless a slow(er)-paced reading. Each reading transaction exposes new details, though, so the book can be read over and over. Since there is not a cohesive narrative, readers can stop reading and start again whenever they wish without interrupting or forgetting what they have read in the previous reading session. This book tows the narrow line between fiction and nonfiction. Some of the annotations are humorous, so it could become difficult for emerging readers to grasp what is serious and real and what is part of imaginative conjuring. This means that the book is perfect for a multigenerational reading transaction. Since the book is perfect for readers of all ages, and because of the unique format, this book will not out a struggling reader to their peers.  

Houses with a Story was the 2024 winner of the American Library Association’s Mildred L. Batchelder Award for the most outstanding children’s book translated into English. This book is appropriate for entertainment and escapist reading, as well as for a wide variety of instruction: in literature courses, science courses, history courses, art courses, woodshop courses, and industrial design courses, among others. Houses with a Story is perfect for those who like engineering and architecture, yet also seek an immersive quest-like experience. Fans of Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall (2022), The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (2020), The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Dianna Wynne Jones (1996/ 2006), The Borrowers by Mary Norton (1952), and Hidden Systems by Dan Nott (2023) will enjoy this book. 

Houses with a Story
Written by Seiji Yoshida, translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash
2023, ABRAMS
ISBN: 9781419761249
2024 winner of the American Library Association’s Mildred L. Batchelder Award for the most outstanding children’s book translated into English
Reviews: Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, School Library Journal

Emma K. McNamara is completing a doctorate at Ohio State University focusing on representations of girlhood, feminist narratology, and young adult romance. She has master’s degrees in Secondary English Education and Children’s Literature from the University of the District of Columbia and Simmons College, respectively, and is dually certified in Culturally Responsive Literature Instruction from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the chair of the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the coordinator of YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, a member of the Children’s Literature Association Article Award Committee, and the 15+ reading group facilitator for Capitol Choices. She has published on Gossip Girl, Harriet the Spy, and urban theory, and is a reviewer for Kirkus and Children’s Books Ireland. 

—

GLLI’s 2024 International YA Literature Month has been curated by Dr Emily Corbett. She is a lecturer in children’s and young adult literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she leads the MA Children’s Literature: Theoretical Approaches to Children’s and Young Adult Literature programme. Her research focuses on the growth and development of YA from literary, publishing, and cultural perspectives. She is also General Editor of The International Journal of Young Adult Literature and was founding Vice President of the YA Studies Association. Her monograph, In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation (2024), is forthcoming with the University Press of Mississippi in June. You can find her contact details on her institutional website and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram via @DrEmilyCorbett.