Such a sweet middle grade story about Lou, and the house that she and her friends are building to keep her mom from taking a job away from where they live with her grandmother.

This is a good take on how kids who want to build feel. And it is fun that it is a girl, rather than a boy, who knows her way around tool, and how to build.

Lou has some land she inherited from her father, just the perfect place to build a tiny house, but her mother wants to move to Seattle, as it is too expensive to live in the Bay Area, and so Lou descides if she builds the tiny house perhaps she can get her mother to let her stay.

It is interesting how much talk of how to do this happens.

I also like how Filipino experiences in the Bay Area re thrown into this mix.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This is a story with a lot of heart set in a strong, caring Filipino-American community in San Francisco.

Unfortunately I could not get into this title. However, I will purchase it for my library as I know some students who would appreciate it. Thanks for the opportunity!

I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was okay. It dealt with some of the things that kids generally deal with: moving, growing up, family culture, fitting in. Has a lot about Filipino culture, so folks from that background would probably relate to the character.

Note: I received this book from the author/publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really cute read and had a totally unique plot! Lou grows up living with her mom in her grandmother's house- but her large extended family is never far away and often spends time at their house. Her dream? To have her own tiny home on the land her father left her when he passed away. The story follows her trying to achieve her dream of a tiny home, be a good daughter/granddaughter/cousin/friend/niece/etc, learn the dance for the big Filipino culture festival, and navigate the normal things a young girl deals with (ie: crushes and how weird boys can be). I really liked how Lou was interested in shop class/construction as this isn't something you normally read about. Lou in general was a character that I could see young girls enjoying- creative, resourceful, friendly, caring, smart, and persistent. Overall the story was well done and intriguing. I thought the story lacked some depth at points but I did enjoy the read and found it to be a fun time.

Lou has such a wonderful family and support system! It's no wonder she's sad that her mother wants to move them to Washington State so that mom can have a better job. But what does a better job matter if they are far from family? Lou is very determined, like so many seventh graders, that her actions will cause her mom to change direction. Specifically, that building a tiny house on her land will fix everything. They'll have their own space and everything will work out. Spoiler: it doesn't work out that way, but it does work out for Lou.

Everything in this book is vibrant and well-described. Even the smaller characters feel like they have a whole backstory. I know there are plenty of tweens who will love this one, but it is so tween that adults may not love living in Lou's head because we know she is delusional about her ability to change the course of everything by doing and incredibly adult thing by herself.

Main character is Filipino American with a dream of building a tiny house on the property her dad's family left her. She has the skill set. She has the organizational skills. She has the friends to help with the labor. Unfortunately, she may not have the time since her mother wants to move in order to escape the high cost of living in California. There are great scenes with the family celebrations and references to food and customs, but the plot seemed to take awhile to reach its crescendo and resolve.

I just couldn’t get into this one. Girls building seems to be in a lot of books right now. I also didn’t really understand why Lou thought building a tiny house on her father’s land would make her mother want to stay and not move away? I did enjoy reading about the Filipino culture though.

Kids who love to build forts and tree houses will root for Lou in her quest to build her own "tiny house". The struggles of Lou and her single mother, sharing one room in her grandmother's house, are realistic but not overwhelming, balanced as they are by her boisterous, loving Filipino-American community, and a supportive cast of friends and teachers, including the woman who runs salvage yard where Lou buys materials for her house, her shop teacher, Mr. Keller and his partner, and the popular boy who seems to be showing an interest in her. Lou learns to fight for her dream...even if that dream may have to be reached slowly. For young teen readers who like feel-good endings.

Lou lives with her mom and her grandmother. Her extended Filipino family all live nearby. But, her father and his parents have all died. Now she has some land that belonged to them. Land that her father had intended to build a house on. Land that Lou wants to build a tiny house on. But her mom is considering moving to find a better job and the taxes on the land have not been paid and the land may be put up for auction.

Can Lou find a way to save her land and her dreams?

This wasn't a bad book but it wasn't a great one either. I was disappointed in how many times Lou ran off, broke her grounding, etc. Too much. The tiny house
angle was cool but it wasn't enough.

Mae Respicio’s House That Lou Built explores family, cultural dynamics

THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT, by Mae Respicio, Wendy Lamb Books, June 12, 2018, Hardcover, $16.99 (ages 8-12)

The idea of building an entire house — even a little one — by yourself seems an overwhelming task, but that’s just what the main character in Mae Respicio’s The House That Lou Built sets out to do.

The House That Lou Built is a multilayered novel that explores family, friendship, self-reliance and cultural dynamics. I loved how Respicio weaved in Filipino traditions with such an effortless feel. I learned so much without feeling like I was being taught or talked down to. Being half Filipino is just who Lou is, and that rings true throughout.

Going into The House That Lou Built, I was a little skeptical of a young girl building her own house. In May, my husband and I finished up renovations on our basement. We stripped the whole thing down to the foundation and started from scratch. My husband did the majority of the work, and it was a lot of work. A lot of research was involved, skills required and code to follow. It was nice to see Respicio add those elements in her book as well. More importantly, she presented Lou’s situation in a way that was completely plausible.

This was a lovely middle-grade book featuring many details from the Filipino culture. The main character, Lou, is resourceful, ambitious, and curious; she also learns the importance of respecting rules from her mother, and of patience and compromise.

This was a wonderful story about persistence and family. Lou is a Filipino/American girl within a tight family unit facing the possibility of a move that would create geographical distance from her family. She struggles with not only the separation of family and friends, but from the land that her father left to her. Books portraying cultures are becoming more and more popular in youth fiction. I loved that this one shows the Filipino culture. My sister-in-law if Filipino and in sharing with her the elements of the book, she let me know that they were very accurately portrayed. I will definitely be purchasing this for my classroom, as well as gifting it so several young ones who are Filipino American. Definitely recommend this book to appropriate age readers.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, I did not. I love the idea of tiny houses. I had a dream of building one when I was ten years old, much like Lou. I also love stories that show kids doing hard things, such as building their own house. However, I found that Lou did not talk like a kid. She had great feminist and environmental talking points, but they sounded like the talking points that a thirty-year-old woman would have, and was putting in the mouth of a child. It was distracting enough that it turned me off from the story. I interact with kids every day at my public library. I guarantee that none of them talk like Lou. When I wanted to build a house, I did not talk like Lou. One of the things that I insist on when I suggest a book to a child is that if the protagonist in the story is a kid like them, they must think, act, and speak like a kid. This book did not offer that, despite its great cover and summary.

The House That Lou Built
by Mae Respicio
Random House Children's

Wendy Lamb Books
Children's Fiction
Pub Date 12 Jun 2018


I am reviewing a copy of The House that Lou Built through Random House Children's/Wendy Lamb Books and Netgalley:


Lou Boulsan-Nelson has plans for an ultimate summer project she wants to build herself her own 100 foot tiny home. She shares a room with her Mother in her Grandmothers house, and she wants a place to escape her lovable and crazy extended Filipino family. Lou loves her wood shop class and creating projects, and decides to build her tiny house on the land she inherited from her Dad, her Dad died before she was born. Sadly she finds out the land may not be hers for much longer though when they can't afford the taxes on it.


Lou quickly discovers it's not going to be easy to save her land, or her house. But that's not going to stop her from trying and with the help of her friends and family her dreams start to take shape, teaching her the deeper meaning of both home and family.


I give The House that Lou Built five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

The best part of this book is Lou's relationship with her friends and her cousins. Despite disagreements they always support each other. A nice portrayal of the ties that bind both immediate and extended family, and a female protagonist with an unusual hobby and a social conscience. Also a nice window into Filipino culture.

A well-written beautiful story about a multiracial Filipina-American girl named Lou, who is obsessed with tiny houses. She plans to build a tiny house on the land her father left her after he passed away. She never knew her father, he died before she was born, so this is her link to him and that part of her family. Lou has a large extended Filipino family and has strong cultural ties there and knows that she can rely on them for everything. Lou's mother is looking for a better job to help support them better but that may mean leaving everything behind, her close-knit family, including her lola, who they live with, and her plot of land. Lou decides she will have to act fast and build that tiny house to convince her mother that everything they need is right here. Lou is an amazing, strong, resilient girl who is dealing with a lot of changes on top of the usual middle school changes. She is confident and prepared and knows who she is. It is amazing to see a strong girl as a protagonist. It is also wonderful to see a story featuring a Filipino family and includes so much of Filipino culture. This is an amazing story for young Filipino-American's looking to find themselves within the pages of a book and those that have yet to know about this culture. A highly recommended read.

The excerpt I read sounds intriguing. Then I read some reviews of the book on various sites. Still sounds like a good read. I would think 5th to 8th grader might enjoy this story. Some may well be puzzled as so many schools have discontinued shop classes. Liability must be pretty high and do they really have a use anyway. Much like home ec. At least skills in home ec are useful. Not sure about shop classes.... They seem to have been more useful back in the 60s and 70s. By the 80's and 90s not much was being done in them. Now most are gone. Anyway, trip down memory lane. The middle schoolers, particularly girls, may be interested in a girl setting out to build her own tiny home.

Lou Bulosan-Nelson is going to build her dream in The House that Lou Built. She shares a room with her mom in her grandmother's house in San Francisco, and longs for a place of her own where she can escape her lovable but large extended Filipino family. Lou has a talent for woodshop class and creating projects. She plans to build a tiny house, 100 square feet, all her own, on land that she inherited from her dad, who died before she was born. Then Lou discovers it's not so easy to build one, but she won't give up on her dream—and her friends and family won’t either. This heartwarming coming-of-age story explores culture and family, forgiveness and friendship, and what makes a house a true home. (via Goodreads)

I RECEIVED AN EARC OF THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT COURTESY OF WENDY LAMB BOOKS VIA NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.
The House That Lou Built is a delightful contemporary middle grade novel. This story is brimming with Filipino family love, the realities of cultural differences, and hard decisions.

Lou is headstrong, determined and delightful, though a lot of the decisions she made in The House That Lou Built were ones that would have had me chewing my nails off as her parent. She did a lot of lying about where she was going and with whom. My mom would have grounded me for an eternity and made sure I stayed grounded. I think it's a sign that I'm getting old when I identified more with Minda and Lola than Lou herself.

She has big dreams for such a small girl, and I adored her. I loved the relationship that Lou had with her cousins and large family, and that she embroiled them in her schemes. I love that their family supported them, no matter what.

Overall, I really enjoyed The House That Lou Built. I felt that another round of editing could have made it just a little tighter, but it's a book with a very open protagonist. If you love headstrong little girls following their dreams, you'll love The House That Lou Built. You can pick up a copy for yourself on Amazon or Indiebound with my sincere recommendation.



DISCLAIMER: ALL LINKS TO INDIEBOUND AND AMAZON ARE AFFILIATE LINKS. IF YOU BUY THROUGH THOSE LINKS, I WILL MAKE A SMALL AMOUNT OF MONEY OFF OF THE SALE.