Who lives here? by Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb

The wonderful Julia Donaldson and talented Rebecca Cobb have paired again to produce this wholly inviting lift the flap book. This funny rhyming story will have all kids sleuthing to try and find the correct house. Readers will love lifting the flap and opening up the pages as the boy explores each house.

Dan invites a boy in his class to come and visit him in South Street, but neglects to tell him the number of the house. The boy peers at the array of houses in the street and must select which one is Dan’s house.  Each house looks different from its neighbour, and each has a particular resident.

House Number One has wonderful smells coming from inside and the boy looks through the window and spies a cook. Not this one.

House Number Two has a horse in the front yard. Could this be Dan’s house, not when the boy peers through the window and sees a knight. House Number Three has round windows and from the inside the boy can hear the words ‘yo ho ho’. And a wooden leg hitting the floor. Not this house, he says as he presses on to number four. House Number Four does not look as inviting as the others did. Here he hears a chain, and loud wails inside the dismal place. And he peers through the window to spy something he did not wish to see. Definitely not this one. At House Number Five he stands by the door and feels rain on his head, looking up he spies Dan with a watering can. At last he has found the right house. Here they play together at being a knight, a cook and a pirate.

The gentle rhyming encourages younger children to predict the rhyming word, offering perhaps their own words to the lines. The cute illustrations invite the readers to look more closely at the detail given on each page. I loved checking out the windows, doors and front yards of each house, implying the sort of resident who might be inside.

Themes: Houses, Detective work, Lift the flap.

Fran Knight