Carson Ellis

Carson Ellis, an illustrator known for her work on her musician/author husband Colin Meloy's album covers and novels, makes her solo debut with this picture-book, which profiles a variety of homes, realistic and imaginary. From houses in the country to apartments in the city, from living underwater to living on the road, a diverse range of homes is profiled here: identified in simple statements, and depicted in lovely folk-art illustrations.

From an aesthetic perspective, I enjoyed Home show more immensely. I appreciated Ellis' subtle but appealing color palette, and found that her use of stylized figures and objects helped to create a charmingly retro-vintage feeling. That said, I wasn't quite as impressed with the narrative, which felt random to me, and not in an appealing way. I found that while I appreciated the individual homes beings portrayed, somehow their juxtaposition just didn't work for me. Still, this is a worthy first endeavor, and I look forward to seeing what Ellis does in her second picture-book, the recently released Du Iz Tak?. Recommended to fans of Ellis' artwork, or to those who have enjoyed Jon Klassen's books, which have a very similar visual feeling to them.

Addendum: I see that Home has been criticized for some stereotyping, when it comes to who lives where - a young girl of color living in a graffiti-covered urban apartment building, for instance - as well as some poorly thought out juxtapositions. Is the pairing of an old sailing ship with people living in a wigwam an intentional reference to first contact between Europeans and Native Americans? If so, what (if anything) is Ellis trying to communicate? Although not offended myself, I can see why some might have concerns. One criticism I have seen that strikes me as misguided is the one that claims that the scene set in a Middle-Eastern palace, complete with underground lair containing piles of gold, is an example of some kind of Orientalist exotification. Coming as it does before the "home" in a shoe - a clear fairy-tale reference - I myself read the Middle-Eastern scene as a reference to the story of Aladdin, and have to wonder if these critics are simply unaware of that story, and ignorant of the wider storytelling tradition of The Arabian Nights. show less

Illustrator at large Carson Ellis, whose work has appeared in such publications as The New York Times and The New Yorker, who has received Grammy nominations for her album cover art, and whose previous picture-book, Du Iz Tak? was chosen as a Caldecott Honor Book in 2017, presents an appealingly surreal tale here. In the eponymous half room we have a half table, a half carpet, a half cat and a half girl. When the girl's other half comes knocking, she is made whole, but when the other side of show more the cat shows up, all is not so easily resolved...

In the Half Room is the third of Ellis' own picture-books, although she has illustrated a number of examples of the form written by other authors, and it strikes me as being exactly the kind of conceptual, quirky book that she would produce. According to her brief note at the rear, it was inspired by a discussion with her son. The artwork itself is lovely, the concept intriguing. I wasn't sure how to interpret the ending - perhaps its symbolizes the conflicted nature of cats, or perhaps it simply depicts how they are always twisting themselves around in order to chase their own tales? - but that very ambiguity felt appropriate, given the story. As others have observed, this feels like an homage to classic picture-books like Goodnight Moon. Recommended to fans of Carson Ellis' artwork, and to picture-book readers who like quirky, open-ended bedtime books. show less

Du iz tak? What is that? (in bug-talk) As a tiny shoot unfurls, two damselflies peer at it in wonder. When the plant grows taller and sprouts leaves, some young beetles arrive to gander, and soon—with the help of a pill bug named Icky—they wrangle a ladder and build a tree fort. But this is the wild world, after all, and something horrible is waiting to swoop down—booby voobeck!—only to be carried off in turn. Su! This book's detailed illustrations and strange bug language stimulate show more the imagination. This is a fun read-aloud with young children. show less

I feel like the intro to this really downplayed how fun it actually was to read—Carson Ellis is kind of like "I recorded an extremely mundane list of things every day", but it was in fact a weirdly fascinating snapshot of a very specific place and time that may never be repeated. The paintings were great to look at also. I listened to a lot of The Decemberists after reading this; I think it's mandatory.