Homesick
Written by Liz Garton Scanlon & Audrey Vernick and Illustrated by Daniel Miyares
★"Scanlon and Vernick’s omniscient narration shifts focus between Poppy and Home, the contrast of their emotional arcs impeccably captured through emphatic page turns and tone. Miyares’ ink and gouache art depicts kinetic Poppy in warm hues, while Home, bereft, is cast in bruised blacks and blues, often floating on white expanses with text tucked neatly on solid spaces. [R]eassuring. . . . [P]erfectly evokes the push-pull emotions of a significant childhood milestone. . . .
Cozy and relatable—Home is definitely where the heart is." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
★"With grace and conviction, this empathic split narrative . . . takes a feeling children carry in their bones—that a beloved object misses them when they’re away—and extends it to an entire building. . . . Gouache-and-ink spreads tell the emotive story with striking color contrasts: . . . [A]n inventive, emotionally attuned meditation on attachment." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
★”This cheerful celebration of the comforts of home and the appeal of something new acknowledges the necessity of both for a fulfilled life. While the text clearly anthropomorphizes the house, the visuals do not. Readers see both the exterior and interior of the house just as Poppy and her family do, so it is the superb use of colors and shading that carry the emotional weight here. Sunny golds and a popping orange radiate from Poppy’s figure, while cooler, softer shades of blue wash over the house; as Poppy’s return gets close, the warmer tones start to sneak in, a sunbeam peeking through a window or a glowing oven baking cookies. This will surely tug on parents’ heartstrings as they watch their youngsters head off into the wide world, but it is a sweet, visually gorgeous illustration of the old adage that home is where the heart is." —The Bulletin, Starred Review
"Miyares’s artwork perfectly pairs with this story. The black-and-white drawings overlaid with colors to match the mood of the page help young readers effectively visualize the text’s emotions. This is a great book to pair with Bernard Waber’s Ira Sleeps Over to offer conversations about the complex emotions around sleeping over at someone else’s house for the first time. It would also be an excellent book to use with older readers to talk about the concept of personification. A first-choice picture book for any library." —School Library Journal
"Gouache and ink illustrations in cool blues and warm pinks and oranges convey Poppy’s and Home’s moods, while yellow tones act as a neutral bridge between conflicting emotions. A comforting preparation-book for a first sleepover or a helpful conversation-starter afterward." —The Horn Book