Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall

Excited readers are invited in to watch a family live and work in the farmhouse and its environs, marvelling at the intricate detail on each page, stopping to look at the scenes before their eyes with astonishment. Caldecott winner Blackall has created a homage to the family, winning over the readers as they turn each page to reveal a new vista. Like peering into a doll’s house, the scenes resemble something in miniature, and are engrossing, familiar and intimate.

Blackall came across the deserted farmhouse and bought it, searching through the generations of detritus left by the owners. Amongst this she found memories of a large family, a grandfather clock, an organ, kitchen dresser and equipment, clothing and furniture. All of these excited her imagination in such a way that she needed to recreate what she had found, in some way to honour their memory. An afterward tells of her journey and photos on the end paper shows what she found. Young and old readers will delight in the revelation of this farmhouse seeking out the familiar and equally intrigued by things no longer seen.

Several pages show the farmhouse in its fields, roads leading to the house in the distance surrounded by sheds and silos. We are introduced to the family, the twelve children posing for a photo in the hall. At night they sleep in the attic, beds in a row against the wall. During the day work is to be done, cows milked, eggs collected, hay to toss in the dray, fish to be caught and apples picked. All of the children help their parents with the chores. The images of the kitchen will ensure readers take notice of the family, as mum cooks the fish caught in the stream, and the children sweep the floor and set the table, afterwards washing the dishes. Readers will love looking at the detail on every page and the kitchen will take their interest as it shows the style of a kitchen rarely seen today.  The wonderful kitchen range is put to good use as a huge pot of soup boils, fish are cooked, vegetables steamed and bread baked. All to be placed on the serviceable kitchen table for all to eat together, some children needing to sit at a smaller table nearby. But the family is very much together, eating together, helping each other, taking some responsibility for the work that needs to be done in the house. The rhyming text parallels each of the wonderful images, revealing a life from the past, a lifestyle no longer pursued, nostalgia oozing from every page. Children will love following the lives of this family, watching the cats in the house, seeing what each child does, and coming near the end see what happened to them all, as the last child leaves her home and the house is abandoned. Blackall includes herself in the text as she discovers the place, describing what she found in words and images, inspiring her to recreate what she found.

This is an enchanting book that many readers will want to revisit and talk about. The rhythm of life meanders through every page, enabling readers to think about their own family and the journey it will take.

Themes: History, Nostalgia, Family, Life events, Farming.

Fran Knight