Title: Julia's House for Lost Creatures
Author: Ben Hatke
Publication Date: October 14th 2014
Synopsis: "When Julia and her walking house come to town, she likes everything about her new neighbourhood except how quiet it is! So Julia puts a sign up: "Julia's House for Lost Creatures." Soon she's hosting goblins, mermaids, fairies, and even a dragon. Quiet isn't a problem anymore for Julia...but getting her housemates to behave themselves is!"
My thoughts: This is a really sweet kid's book with absolutely charming illustrations. The fact that it is also very short and predominantly a picture book means I've actually read through this book about five times already.
There is something very comforting and lovely about Hatke's style - I loved it in Zita the Spacegirl, and I love it even more here. I am particularly fond of his little ghostie in this book.
On my first read-through, I found the flow to be a little disjointed, but I think that was mostly just with the text - if you look at this book with the curiosity of a child and pay more attention to the beautiful illustrations (not hard), then everything flows beautifully and you find yourself somewhat sucked into this alternate dimension where mermaids and goblins and fairies co-exist in the same home - even dance to the same records together.
I found this book an absolute delight and am considering buying copies for my friends with young kids - and a few for friends who just adore stories like these.
I received an Advanced Reader's Edition of this book from First Second Books.
You would like this book if: you like sweet art styles; you enjoy comforting worlds.
Rating: 9.5/10
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