Too Tall Houses
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Good friends learn a small but important lesson
Owl and Rabbit are good friends and live in two small houses next to each other. They are perfectly happy . . . until Rabbit's garden gets in the way of Owl's view. So Owl builds his house a little taller. Only that blocks the sun from Rabbit's vegetables. So Rabbit builds his house taller. And soon it's a house-building frenzy and the two now not-so-good friends have the two tallest houses in the world!
All it takes is a gust of wind to remind them that maybe living smaller and together is a much better way to remain friends.
The creator of Meet Me at the Moon has delivered another wonderful animal fable for today's world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Marino's (Meet Me at the Moon) gouache and pencil spreads feature sun-baked color, lots of movement, and wide Southwestern vistas; they provide most of the story's kick. Rabbit's flat-topped brick house looks like a small pueblo, while his neighbor Owl's dwelling is an intricately woven covered nest. The two animals have been friends for ages, but now there's a conflict: "Rabbit!" cries Owl. "Your garden is growing too tall. I can't see the forest!" Owl adds another story to his dwelling while "Rabbit watched and chittered his teeth." Rabbit retaliates, building still higher, and they're off, each outdoing the other until a spread shows two impossibly tall structures teetering far above Earth's surface, the rabbit and owl barely hanging on at the very top. Wind blows the houses from side to side, and vegetables and twigs go flying; fortunately, although the animals are falling from miles up, both land safely and, of course, discover that cooperation is better than competition. It's a story with universal appeal and a very particular sense of place. Ages 3 5.
