Building a House

by Byron Barton

"You could almost do it yourself--by carefully noting the steps depicted in each bright, brisk, clearly delineated picture....With independently interesting pictures and a definite, sunny personality, a very fine piece of work indeed."--Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Picture Books, Construction, Childrens, Nonfiction, Storytime, How To

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Byron Barton is the author and illustrator of many picture books for young children. He has been honored by ALA, SLJ, and Reading Rainbow. He worked as an animator for CBS before he started creating children's books. He is currently making his illustrations completely on the computer.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple book about the process of building a house, from the digger moving in to the plot to the family moving into the home. This was interesting and for the very young I'm sure this would make an interesting read. The process did seem perhaps over simplified and doesn't get across the time involved in building a house. The illustrations are bright and colourful.

Read on open library

[Shanna Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Byron Barton's deceptively simple cartoon-like drawings and streamlined text may seem unimpressive at first glance. But this author has a distinctive gift for distilling essential components of any event or theme into a page-turningly smooth story that the youngest child can follow. In this volume, he describes and illustrates the step-by-step construction of a family home, beginning with "a green hill" with land surveyors pictured, and ending with a family moving into the home. It's an excellent early lesson in architecture for any child, but particularly those young children who show an interest in how objects in their environment work.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Building a House by Byron Barton is a basic, step-by-step look at the construction of a family home. Starting with a green hill and ending with a family moving into the completed home, Barton shows the whole process. Diggers, cement mixers & a foundation, bricklayers, carpenters, floors, walls, roofs, fireplace and chimney, plumbers putting in pipes, electricians wiring lights, windows and doors, and painters are shown as the house is built.

The text is clear and moves along step by step. Vocabulary can also be built using this book. The simple cartoon-like figures are perfect for young construction and architecture fans. There is even a simple blue front and side view of the house depicted on the title page. A number of details are shown but not described, including surveyors and lots of tools, such as hammers, trowels, planes, and brushes.

Perfect for children interested in construction and building. Some assistance with vocabulary may be needed. Shapes could be identified.

For ages 3 to 5 & some independent readers, construction, buildings, homes, and fans of Byron Barton.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous introduction to the steps necessary for building a house. Appropriate for ages 2+. (At least my 24-mo-old benefited from it.) Great way to teach vocabulary, occupations, and sequencing.

I used this as a basic introduction to building for my almost four-year-old and followed it up with a book containing photographs and greater details (Building a House, by Ken Robbins, really written for much older reader, but I wanted photographs for portraying reality). I recommend pairing this book with Up Goes the Skyscraper by Gail Gibbons, which has a similar illustration style, although it does have more--and more advanced--detail than this book does, befitting even upper elementary readers who are interested in construction.

[Mommywest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outlines the steps of building a house without getting too complicated. The text is very simple, leaving a lot of room for describing what's happening in the pictures, if desired. Some other reviewers have mentioned that they have used this book in a kindergarten or pre-k setting and have added an activity or visual project along with it. Others pointed out that there are geometric shapes throughout. You could use this to talk about the different kinds of jobs that people do, or something similar. My little guy loved this book--he loves anything that has to do with vehicles, construction, and being a "fix-it man."

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Building a House describes the process of building a house using easily understandable descriptions and simple, colorful illustrations. Starting with a green hill and ending with a family moving into the house, each step of the process is described along the way. This book does a good job of showing how something is created from start to finish and how each person involved has their own important part to play, there are a lot of options for adding extra discussion as well. Toddlers especially interested in building or construction will like this simple yet informative nonfiction book.

[Emerson and Theodore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just checked this book out for a 2nd, maybe 3rd time. One of Barton's earlier works and it shows his original drawing style--a bit more detailed but still the solid bold colors.
This time we checked it out from the Marcy branch library.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Byron Barton book that my nephew loved. Faboulous pictures, and very entertaining for a little one.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret is in love with this book. Very quick read, great for reading to a toddler on the potty.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nonfiction for storytime. Byron Bartons clear, spare text & illustrations are great!

[jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Barton. Just the perfect amount of info, spread out in easy chunks. William enjoys it.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Art II and Art III classes were very captivated by this book at Gymboree :)

[Angelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good choice of book for teaching building, construction and engineering!

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and to-the-point.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great first book on building a house!

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

The trucks were extremely popular in the beginning, but the book was a bit long for lap time.

[Rosa Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

AWARDS THIS BOOK HAS WON: none
APPROPRIATE GRADE LEVEL: Pre-school to Kindergarten
SUMMARY: In this book the author takes us through the building of a house step by step. Each page brings a new stage in the construction, and includes very simple sentences with the instructions for every step (for example on page one: "First we dig a hole"). At the end of the book the house is finished and the children have followed a project from beginning to end.
REVIEW: At this age children are still reading simple books with simple sentences and big pictures, this book has both. As you turn the pages and see the house coming along it will keep the childrens attention and pique their curiosity. The lenght of the book , 32 pages, makes it the perfect lenght to keep the children engaged during a read aloud.
POSSIBLE IN CLASS USES: This book will be beneficial when doing lesson about construction themes, following instructions, identifying materials (wood, cement), sorting tools, and parts of a whole (uniforms made up of : hard hats, overalls)

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is appropriate for grade levels Pre K-1. The book explains step by step on how to build a house. In the book each person building the house is described (job position) and what they do in the process of building the house. When describing the process to build the house, each tool to construct the building is described and what it's used for. At the end the workers leave and the family moves in the home. In my review this book provides great information to young readers on learning what steps are, and how to construct a building. Children can use their imagination in creative play with building blocks and props to build their own structures and act it out. Children will start to use new vocabulary such as plumber, carpenters, brick layers, etc in their vocabulary inside and outside of the classroom. There are so many job descriptions, and new tool names described in the book that you can use this book for a unit on jobs and tools.

[Jon Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) Awards: No awards From what I know.

2) Grades: Pre K-1st

3) Summary: The book is great because it shows a step by step routine being displayed. The example is a step by step process of how to build a house. In this book, each person/worker of the house is described on what they with building the house. This book is great for a structural view for the students as well.

4) Review: This book provides a step by step process and how to construct a building. This is a excellent book for such a young age group of students to read.

5) I would have the students build their own house by using their own set of blocks or legos. As they are working on their building, I would walk around and engage with them in conversation with the terms of this topic. (for example, plumber, what does he/she do again).

[Kalynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am learning that Byron Barton is a great author to go to for preK-1, when you want the frame of a story, coupled with vocabulary building and background knowledge building, or assessing connections. He is also a great author to go to when you want to illustrations that may be close to the outlines provided by students. In this story, Byron Barton shows us the process of building a house, on a green hill. Had I read it earlier, this would have been a great add to my kindergarten lessons on community helpers and their tools, not to mention sequence and retelling. :-)

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a cute book with very simple illustrations of each step of building a house. My kids really loved looking at the pictures and we discussed on each page what they think is going to happen next. This book is perfect to talk about the sequence of stories. The illustrations are simple which is great and they are beautifully colorful which keeps the kids attention on the book. I recommend you checking this out.

[Jaden Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Building a House by Byron Barton is a book that takes the reader through the multi-step process of building a house and all that it entails. I would use the book in the classroom to address and explain chronological order and sequencing of events. I would have my students explain what they do to get ready in the morning and put those events into chronological order.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

How is a house built? Byron Barton explains how, page by page, with simple illustrations showing carpenters putting in floors, walls and doors, roofers building a roof, plumbers putting in pipes for water and electricians putting in wires for lights. Simple, but perfect for a little one who wants to know how things work!

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my interlibrary request I receiv d a well worn paperback book of this title copyrighted 1981. This is definitely Byron Barton’s typical style and format sparse text with sparsely illustrated illustrations which are definitely uncluttered. This title depicts the house building process from digging the dirt for the foundation to the family moving in.

[Allyson Goose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to understand introduction to the steps in building a house, plus the people who do the work. The words are carefully chosen. My kindergartener and preschooler enjoyed the book. We've read this many times and I'm sure we'll read it a lot more.

[Casandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simple construction book. Not a story.

[Tommie Branscum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very, very, very simplistic. Might be a good read-aloud for the youngest of students who may be beginning to think about STEM topics and the design process.

[Yoselin Holguin-Rangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to read for kids who are learning about building spaces and becoming familiar with tools.

[kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barton's books are perfect for introducing aspects of the world around the child. He uses clear, bright, bold illustrations and minimal text, somehow managing to turn a process into a story.