If You Lived Here: Houses of the World (review)

Laroche scans five continents for examples of eye-catching, eyebrow-raising domestic architecture that may shake American youngsters out of the house/apartment paradigm. Here children will see single-family homes carved from caves in Spain, a multifamily roundhouse in China, houses perched above water on stilts in Chile, houses floating on pontoons in the Netherlands, and so on. Each pictured style is accompanied by a boxed inset with an introductory paragraph, notes on building materials, location, dates of occupancy and a "fascinating fact." Illustrations comprise Laroche's signature cut-paper collage, vivid in depth and detail. The text is simple enough to be used with primary children studying units on shelter, while the images—and oddity—of the edifices will absorb the attention of middle-graders. Whether you dream of painting a mural over your entire house, pulling up a drawbridge for privacy, or dropping a fishing line out your bedroom window, we've got a house for you.