Good book. Beautiful illustrations! Liked the story and the flow was good. Fun to read with kids. Would add this to kids library of books.

3.5 stars

This is a cute story about a girl who watches a train go by and makes a connection with the engineer by waving every day. It's a sweet concept, and the illustrations are really nice, though I thought it wrapped up a little abruptly, or perhaps simply didn't develop enough. I'm also not sure why the title is about a house when the story primarily focuses on a train.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

This is a pleasant enough story of a girl growing up and moving away, although that only comes at the end. Most of the story is of how she has a connection with a train driver that waves at her every time he drives by, until, it is a new train driver, and the girl finds other things to interest her.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-18-at-9.22.26-AM.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4742" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-18-at-9.22.26-AM.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4742" />

So, I suppose that is the point of the story, that we grow up and move away? Nice drawings, but not much there to hold on to beyond that.

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

ARC Copy...a simple parable with beautiful illustrations and what a child thinks when things like trains going somewhere are going too and the curiosity that goes with it.

*thank you to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

3 stars.

This started out wonderfully! The illustrations right away grabbed me. So beautifully done. The story got my full attention. Like a fish biting onto a hook and it reeled me in. It was emotional in a happy, sweet and heart felt way and I felt connected with the story. Then half way through it changed and got confusing. It wasnt explained fully what had happened and then the little girl finally getting to do what she had dreamed of, felt like there were a bit or two missing. Still maybe if I read this over and over I might not mind so much but just think a couple bits need to be added into the story. The illustrations I'd leave as they are. Couldn't find a thing wrong with them. They suited the story.

A book with a message, but one that's a little awkward. I fell for the young girl who twice-daily waves at the train engineer as his engine takes countless carriages past her bedroom window to and fro. It is always best to have a sense of wonder at what might be at the end of the tracks, both on an actual train ride and in this journey we call life, of course. But when the girl breaks free and finds her destination – where's the agency in her story? Yes, it might be the train and its driver, but it may just as well be the arty, wholesome, fully secure home we see her living in. Surely the more satisfying narrative would be the train being a signifier of her future, not just a passing juvenile whim and a utilitarian transport. I think with the childhood we see her have, she would have got where she was going anyway, choo-choo or no choo-choo. The art and design makes good use of horizontal double-page spreads, and the writing is fine as it is, but I felt a more nailed-down conclusion would have been more satisfying.