The Lost House

By B. B. Cronin

  • is an award-winning illustrator originally from Dublin, Ireland.

  • First published in the United States by Viking 2016

  • 3-7

The excitement begins with the endpapers. What is this place? It looks like a museum or rather an antiques shop. Would you want anything for your bedroom?

It’s a bit messy. I mean, who puts trainers on the shelf where jars and jugs live? Oh my goodness! Someone’s left their teeth on the shelf! The kids are looking for something, they’ve got a torch. What are they looking for?

See how the illustrator works with perspective. He put the missing things on the shelf and the children just can’t see them. We can. Why don’t we help them to find the missing items?

Also, all of those things are different colours. You can ask your class to remember them and when you get inside a page with certain colour, ask them if they remeber what they are looking for.

Grandad promised to take his grandchildren to the park today. But he needs some help getting ready. He’s lost a few things.

Do you have any fun stories about your grandparents that you can share? Do they often loose things and need help finding them?

In his green living room are seats, saucers, statues, and two socks.

Alliteration examples, repeating s a few times.

I can’t see the socks. I can see pencils, brushes, birds and cups and I see clocks and logs but still no socks. Maybe I should look on the table in the centre of the room.

I will first hear what my students find and then I will throw in a few more words that they might not know.

In his shiny red kitchen, there are shelves full of dishes, a salt shaker, and a tin full of sugar. But where are his shoes? I can’t see them but I can see a pack of cereal on the floor, a few books on the bench and a dartboard. Can you name a few things that don’t belong in the kitchen?

This is the biggest bathroom I have ever seen. I straightaway spotted an antique diving helmet. I have one just like this sitting on the shelf in my office. This bathroom is a truly extraordinary place. Why does he need an anchor and boat oars? Maybe you have them as well, attached to the tub?

Look at the state of this bathroom. What things should we put away to make it a tiny bit neater?

Watch your step when cleaning up. There’s a banana peel on the floor near the radiator. And the toothpaste is leaking down on the floor. You might slip on it.

Hang on. Is it grandad in the bathtub? I can only see his feet but it looks like he is wearing odd green socks and very shiny red trainers.

That’s quite a collection of brushes, don’t you think? I’ve seen more brushes in one place only when I visited a Brush shop. That’s true. I’m not fibbing. The shop sells nothing but brushes. Hair brushes, paintbrushes, brushes for daddy’s moustache and for a cat’s tail, brushes for mum’s eyebrows and also for your garden. All sorts of brushes indeed. (With books like this one I can go off the topic just to make it less pacy. Kids get overexcited and just shout out words.)

Back to our story. Now I think I know where Grandad is and I can see the girl. But where is her brother?

Look at this room. Now we need to locate his glasses but I am afraid it will take us years. What is the strangest object in the drawing room? My vote goes to those giant boots that Grandad uses as shelves for a tea set, pins and candlesticks.

Psssssss. What’s that noise? Is it a balloon under the ceiling? Vroom! Is that a motorbike parked in the hallway? Can you spot any more things that make noises?

I don’t find it possible to describe every page of this book. There are thousands of objects and you could play I spy, for example, or ask the kids to find the most expensive things on the page, something that they have never seen before, something they have at home, something they would never ever want to have, something hot, metal or for girls only. You can also ask one of your students to be a pretend shop assistant. Others will be picking presents for their grandads. Can your student recommend anything from one of the pages?

And after all that, we are going to talk about Grandad’s style.

And his behaviour. Do you think he wanted to tire them out? Was it his plan or is he a forgetful old man?