Homesick by Audrey Vernick, Daniel Miyares, Liz Garton Scanlon
ISBN: 0823457141
Genres: Emotions & Feelings, Family Life
Format: Picture Book Fiction
Goodreads

With School’s First Day of School (2016), Adam Rex and Christian Robinson helped readers to see a new experience through the eyes of a building. Liz Garton Scanlon, Audrey Vernick, and Daniel Miyares take up this theme in Homesick and allow readers to see: just as you might miss your house when you’re away, your home misses you.

We open on Poppy, a girl who is zooming with excitement over her upcoming first sleepover at her grandparents’ house. Juxtaposing this warm first illustration of Poppy is a stark counterpoint: the cool colors and remove of Home, who is not looking forward to this separation and the quiet that Poppy’s absence will bring. As we see Poppy leave home and enjoy the adventure of a sleepover, Home is given equal consideration, and we learn how forlorn, “almost… sick” Home is without Poppy. Waking up in a new place, Poppy starts to share Home’s sickness, until grandma reminds her that Home is waiting for her while she has adventures. “Poppy thought she’d better have some adventures then.” The sleepover is a success, and the reunion of Poppy and Home is sweet.

The real star of the show are Miyares’ illustrations, created with gouache and ink on paper, with warm yellows and oranges capturing the excitement of Poppy, and cool blues showing the corresponding emotional state of Home. Miyares makes great use of these simple color palates and of white space to show the discrepancies in experience of our two main characters, but also ways in which emotions are blended, combine, and ultimately shift. A fresh take on a first sleepover, with ample visual treats to explore.

Reviewed by Carolyn Gallmeyer, Lithgow Public Library, Augusta ME