The House from Morning to Night

This book uses illustrations to tell its story or stories. I first encountered it when my son got the French version as a gift from his French aunt. Each page is a cut-away of the same house at different times of day, with the activities in each room changing as the day progresses. You follow the baker from his nighttime bread making at the bakery in the street level of the house to his daytime sleeping upstairs. You follow the school girl from her nighttime sleeping to her daytime preparations for school. It is a great book for cultivating observation, for making up stories, and for learning and enjoying the rhythm of daily life. Unlike other books that get "old," at least to adults, with repetition, this one lends itself to an infinite number of "readings" with a different theme each time, both for the adult reader and the child who can also narrate. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because this version of the book is smaller than the original, so the house, the rooms and the people are smaller, making it a bit more difficult to follow their activities and to see all of the details. But if you have never seen the larger one you may not miss the change in size. The pages are thin board, so the book is suitable for a younger child who may still be tearing pages. But it is much more sophisticated than a typical board book, by far.