The Full House and the Empty House, illustrated and written by LK James, published by Ripple Grove Press, ISBN: 978-0999024935.
One of the many joys of working with A Fuse #8 Production blogger extraordinare Betsy Bird is she gets a LOT of books sent her way and she loves to show these books to lucky co-workers such as myself. As soon as she held up LK James’ The Full House and the Empty House and said “ooh, I think you’ll like this” I became intrigued. The covers shows two stylized houses with arms and legs, holding hands and dancing in front of lovely red, green, and red foliage. As soon as I started paging through this delightful, quirky, and surprisingly poignant work I knew I wanted to write it about here on this humble blog. For this book serves up a sense of mystery as it shows the titular characters (strikingly rendered in hand-drawn ink and edited digitally) frolicking and playing together. Why is the turquoise house empty and the red house full? Who lives in them? Where did those who once lived in the turquoise house go? Or is the dweller existing inside of the turquoise house simply leading a simple life with few possessions? Is this an allegory about a friendship that defies class differences? There is so much to ponder here. But even more importantly, this title satisfies as a rather sweet friendship story about celebrating differences.
James creates a unique world all her own here. It really helps that, thanks to succinct words and especially her gorgeous imagery, she makes the concept clear and easy to follow. I love it when she takes us readers inside the red house and we can see the turquoise house peering in the window. And what a wonderfully odd touch to have paintings on the wall of house-like creatures playing instruments or walking together? (Is this a people-less world where only houses live? Hmmm, it seems so. I’m getting an almost Asimovian vibe here.) James does a great job showing the differences between the houses’ respective interiors: the abundance of goodies in the red house, the emptiness of the turquoise. The book really comes to life when the houses dance. The objects inside the red house clatter and clang (love the swirling lines representing noise and chaos outside the red house) and fly about. Oh, I love a good rumpus! Instead of feeling jealous, the empty turquoise house grooves on hearing the red house’s chaotic symphony and because it is empty and thus much lighter, it can leap in the air with joy.
Some of my favorite picture books feel like beautifully done animated films that beat to the sound of their own drummer. The Full House and the Empty House definitely falls into this much beloved category for me.
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