Author & Illustrator: Virginia Lee Burton
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Publication Year: 1943
Location: Personal Collection
Awards: Caldecott, NEA Best Books for Children, School Library Journal Top 100 Picture Books
Summary: This is the story of a little house that is originally built in the country and the family promises to never sell her. As the years pass, the little house watches as progress changes her environment and brings new things- road, cars, buildings, tenement houses, etc. Finally the great-great-granddaughter of the man who built the little house recognizes her and moves her back out to the country to be surrounded by trees again. Burton was an early master of text placement as the illustrations and text in her books always fit together perfectly.
Classroom Ideas: This book traces the industrial revolution and the growth of cities. There is so much here that is taught in US History: automobiles, tenement buildings, trolley cars, elevated trains, subways, and skycrapers. Younger grade teachers could also point to the Little House's depiction of the seasons.
