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If I Built ...
If I Built a House
The much-anticipated follow-up to the E. B. White Award-winning picture book If I Built a Car
In If I Built a Car, imaginative Jack dreamed up a whimsical fantasy ride that could do just about anything. Now he's back and ready to build the house of his dreams, complete with a racetrack, flying room, and gigantic slide. Jack's limitless creativity and infectious enthusiasm will inspire budding young inventors to imagine their own fantastical designs.
Chris Van Dusen's vibrant illustrations marry retro appeal with futuristic style as he, once again, gives readers a delightfully rhyming text that absolutely begs to be read aloud.
In If I Built a Car, imaginative Jack dreamed up a whimsical fantasy ride that could do just about anything. Now he's back and ready to build the house of his dreams, complete with a racetrack, flying room, and gigantic slide. Jack's limitless creativity and infectious enthusiasm will inspire budding young inventors to imagine their own fantastical designs.
Chris Van Dusen's vibrant illustrations marry retro appeal with futuristic style as he, once again, gives readers a delightfully rhyming text that absolutely begs to be read aloud.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 2012
42 people are currently reading
717 people want to read
About the author
Chris Van Dusen
52 books322 followersChris Van Dusen writes: “I was born in Portland, Maine, on St. Patrick’s Day, 1960. As a child, my brothers and I would spend hours drawing pictures. We didn’t have video games or computers to entertain us, so we drew instead. One of my brothers would sketch intricate war scenes. Another would draw animals so realistic you’d swear they were breathing. My specialty was aliens, robots, and monsters.
“Dr. Seuss and Robert McCloskey were my heroes. I loved the rhythm of Dr. Seuss’ words and I was fascinated by the meticulous detail of Robert McCloskey’s illustrations. I had no idea back then that I’d end up writing and illustrating children’s books when I grew up.
“After high school, I studied fine art at The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and graduated with a BFA in 1982. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do. First I was a waiter, and then I was offered a part-time job at a magazine for teenagers. Eventually I started drawing cartoons and illustrations for the magazine and my career as an illustrator was born.
“For more than ten years I worked as a freelance illustrator specializing in art for kids. I was doing mostly editorial work and my illustrations appeared in magazines like Nickelodeon, Family Fun, and Disney Adventures. One day I started thinking about drawing a picture of a boat stuck high up in a tree. I thought that would be a really funny and intriguing illustration. At the same time, a refrain kept running through my head—“Mr. Magee and his little dog, Dee / Hopped in the car and drove down to the sea.” The combination of these two things eventually became my first book, Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee (Chronicle), which was published in 2000. Since then I’ve written and illustrated A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee (Chronicle) (2003), If I Built a Car (Puffin) (2005) and I’ve had a ball illustrating Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series (Candlewick).
“Dr. Seuss and Robert McCloskey were my heroes. I loved the rhythm of Dr. Seuss’ words and I was fascinated by the meticulous detail of Robert McCloskey’s illustrations. I had no idea back then that I’d end up writing and illustrating children’s books when I grew up.
“After high school, I studied fine art at The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and graduated with a BFA in 1982. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do. First I was a waiter, and then I was offered a part-time job at a magazine for teenagers. Eventually I started drawing cartoons and illustrations for the magazine and my career as an illustrator was born.
“For more than ten years I worked as a freelance illustrator specializing in art for kids. I was doing mostly editorial work and my illustrations appeared in magazines like Nickelodeon, Family Fun, and Disney Adventures. One day I started thinking about drawing a picture of a boat stuck high up in a tree. I thought that would be a really funny and intriguing illustration. At the same time, a refrain kept running through my head—“Mr. Magee and his little dog, Dee / Hopped in the car and drove down to the sea.” The combination of these two things eventually became my first book, Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee (Chronicle), which was published in 2000. Since then I’ve written and illustrated A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee (Chronicle) (2003), If I Built a Car (Puffin) (2005) and I’ve had a ball illustrating Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series (Candlewick).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 256 reviews
January 20, 2016
Though published in 2005, this book should be called "If I Built a House ... In the 1970's."
But seriously it's a great concept and my kids love the book. My son's dying for a racing room and an aquarium room.
But seriously it's a great concept and my kids love the book. My son's dying for a racing room and an aquarium room.
July 8, 2014
Such a fun, imaginative story with awesome illustrations. This could make a fun writing project for descriptive writing... Describe one or more rooms you would design if you built a house. They can be imaginative like his (race car room, underwater room, flying room) or normal rooms with just some interesting features. My 5 yo loved this. It is definitely reminiscent of Audrey Wood's The Flying Dragon Room. Different rooms, but similar concepts. Either or both could lead to great writing projects.
April 6, 2020
Realized I never reviewed this here. It is a great book. Imaginative, funny, clever. My oldest son LOVED this when he was about five years old. We read it many times.
September 3, 2019
The perfect childhood dream home.
August 4, 2022
My house will be nifty! My house will be neat!
My house will stand out as the best on the street!
This budding architect has watched perhaps a few too many episodes of The Jetsons, but his space-age design is truly a marvel.
I'd love to reside here, as long as I have Rosie to help me clean up.
My house will stand out as the best on the street!
This budding architect has watched perhaps a few too many episodes of The Jetsons, but his space-age design is truly a marvel.
I'd love to reside here, as long as I have Rosie to help me clean up.
March 5, 2025
Fun book. Makes me wish some of our schools had a hundredth of this creativity and spontaneity
September 13, 2019
If I Built a House is the second book in the children's picture book series If I Built..., written and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen, which follows an imaginative boy named Jack who wants to design his perfect house.
The text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and lyrical. Written in rhyming couplets, the narrative tells the house that a little would like to create. The illustrations are colorful, sleek, and shiny, reinforcing the 1950s suburbia ambiance and the narrative.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. Jack returns, this time describing his dream house with his mother, who has an automatic robotic kitchen, spinning chairs and a ball pit in the living room, an automatic shower in the bathroom, and his bedroom in a tower, an anti-gravity room, a racetrack room, and slides going everywhere.
All in all, If I Built a House is a wonderful book about a little boy and his boundless imagination in creating the perfect house.
The text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and lyrical. Written in rhyming couplets, the narrative tells the house that a little would like to create. The illustrations are colorful, sleek, and shiny, reinforcing the 1950s suburbia ambiance and the narrative.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. Jack returns, this time describing his dream house with his mother, who has an automatic robotic kitchen, spinning chairs and a ball pit in the living room, an automatic shower in the bathroom, and his bedroom in a tower, an anti-gravity room, a racetrack room, and slides going everywhere.
All in all, If I Built a House is a wonderful book about a little boy and his boundless imagination in creating the perfect house.
October 30, 2019
My kids and I love the If I Built series of pictures books by Chris Van Dusen. The stories are great for sparking imagination and the illustrations are so cute. Would it be fun to let your imagination run free and built a house with every fun thing you can imagine?! If I Built a House is definitely a family favorite.
May 25, 2023
Personally, I love this book & the built a car. They are creative with great illustrations and rhyming. Can’t wait until my grandson is old enough to read these to. He’s just 12 months, but we’ve watched the stories and YouTube and he seems to like the illustrations already. Definitely want to explore more from this author.
July 18, 2023
My 2 year old asks “Who is Chris Van Dusen?” then answers his own question “If I Built A House aufor.” So yeah, this book has made a big impression on us.
November 10, 2015
If I Built a House by Chris Van Dusen is about young boy name Jack who dreams of a dream house that if far from the norm. His dream house explores the imagination of child and gives us a glimpse of what future house could be. Jack takes him mom and his dog on a tour of each room he has dreamt up, including all glass room, robotic rooms, flying room, and so on. Jack is seen through out the book as being the leader and always smiling with enthusiasm about his dream. His mother on the other had shows a sense of wonder and sometimes confusion on her face. She is more hesitant to explore the rooms and there functions. The first page shows Jack sitting at a picnic table with building material laid out around him, materials such as Legos, Linking logs, and cardboard. By the end of the book you see the image of Jack and a few small building models made from those materials. These images show how you can explore with materials first to develop an idea. The illustrations depict Jack dream house being made of more modern day materials such metal, plastic, and glass. Jack house is a mix of retro and futuristic design. Author and Illustrator, Chris Van Dusen has a certain style to his books. He playful, bright, and cartoon characters, with small bodies and large faces, help use to recognize his work. The book uses highly saturated colors and forms. Forms such as cylinders, boxes, and spheres define some of the unconventional rooms of this house.The rhyming text also plays along with the creative illustrations and description of Jacks house. I think this story captures the theme of childhood imagination. It allows for readers to feel that the sky is the limit when it comes to creating as you can see Jack has no limits in his imagination.
August 3, 2017
Oh. my. dear! Where was this book when I was a kid? My sister and I spent countless hours designing homes out of Legos and building forts out of blankets; but never with this much imagination! This book is fantastic! The illustrations will spark creativity and invention in your kids. Say adios to the TV for a while as they'll want to draw, build and enjoy their innovative side!
Ages 3+
Cleanliness: there's a boy in a shower - you can only make out his outline through the shower screen.
Ages 3+
Cleanliness: there's a boy in a shower - you can only make out his outline through the shower screen.
April 24, 2014
I've never reviewed children's books, but this one is so good that I just had to. Perfect for my almost 3 year old son's wild imagination. He loves looking through all of the rooms and imagining building his own "magical" house. Great gift idea for 3 year olds!
July 30, 2021
They kids love this book and their imagination during and after reading it is so fun to listen to!
March 7, 2018
Summary: Jack is a very imaginative kid. He has a very active imagination. In this book, Jack imagines his dream house, what it would look like, and how he would build it. It would be nothing less than extraordinary with a racetrack room, flying room, and massive slide. He would have a kitchen that cooks for him, a shower that does all the work, and a bedroom in a tower in the clouds. What would your dream house look like?
Theme: Children should work towards their dreams and visions of their lives. Imagination is something that should be encouraged and not crushed.
Personal Response: Children will find it very easy to relate to this book. As a child, I would have loved a book in which you can relate to the character and dream up crazy and amazing realities. The illustrations of this book cater to the almost magical element of the reading. The illustrations are whimsical and bring to life the words from the story.
Recommendation: I would recommend this to teachers who are desiring to promote creativity to their students. This book would be a great example of a read-aloud to spark an idea for a Quick Write. Having students write about their dream house after reading this book would be a great way to foster creative writing.
Theme: Children should work towards their dreams and visions of their lives. Imagination is something that should be encouraged and not crushed.
Personal Response: Children will find it very easy to relate to this book. As a child, I would have loved a book in which you can relate to the character and dream up crazy and amazing realities. The illustrations of this book cater to the almost magical element of the reading. The illustrations are whimsical and bring to life the words from the story.
Recommendation: I would recommend this to teachers who are desiring to promote creativity to their students. This book would be a great example of a read-aloud to spark an idea for a Quick Write. Having students write about their dream house after reading this book would be a great way to foster creative writing.
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December 5, 2019Book Title: If I Built A House
Author: Chris Van Dusen
Reading Level: L
Book Level: 2.7
Book Summary: Young Jack dreams up the best house ever and creates rooms with the ability fly, race tracks and gigantic slides.
Writing Traits:
Sentence Fluency-This book has a very rhythmic tone to it. Each page flows in a sing song pattern. I would use this text to show students how to move the reader through an idea by creating short rhythmic patterns.
Ideas- This text uses the idea of engineering and imagination to talk about how we can dream and create. I would use this text to show students how to take a reader on an adventure with their idea. I would encourage them to list details and talk about how things sound, feel, and smell.
Other Ideas: This book would be great for innovation days or to talk about engineering, designing and building.
Author: Chris Van Dusen
Reading Level: L
Book Level: 2.7
Book Summary: Young Jack dreams up the best house ever and creates rooms with the ability fly, race tracks and gigantic slides.
Writing Traits:
Sentence Fluency-This book has a very rhythmic tone to it. Each page flows in a sing song pattern. I would use this text to show students how to move the reader through an idea by creating short rhythmic patterns.
Ideas- This text uses the idea of engineering and imagination to talk about how we can dream and create. I would use this text to show students how to take a reader on an adventure with their idea. I would encourage them to list details and talk about how things sound, feel, and smell.
Other Ideas: This book would be great for innovation days or to talk about engineering, designing and building.
January 30, 2023
The If I Built series is great for the imagination. If I Built A House was the last book of this series for me to read and it did not disappoint. Between the storyline and the illustrations, it's as if Chris Van Dusen took The Jetsons crossed them with Meet The Robinsons and created this book. I love that it encourages you to "think outside the box". Imagine if you could make your house any way you wanted, what would you do? Children will take notice to the Legos, Lincoln Logs, and Tinkertoys that are strewn across the table when the story begins. Although some of the ideas may seem silly, who's to say they are wrong?
I will add this book to my classroom library in order to complete the collection. This series is great to make STEM projects as simple or complicated as you want them to be!
I will add this book to my classroom library in order to complete the collection. This series is great to make STEM projects as simple or complicated as you want them to be!
March 20, 2020
This book was very fun and engaging to read. The text had somewhat of a rhyming scheme and the illustrations were extremely colorful and detailed and helped to tell the story. Every page described a different part of the house and how they young boy would decorate the room to create his dream house. Describing all these aspects of a dream house with all these futuristic technologies, this book really helps to foster creativity and get students thinking. This book would be especially engaging for young readers all through elementary school. Used as a read aloud, this book could introduce the topic of engineering and creative thinking. Students could either draw their dream house or describe it in a creative writing piece.
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February 9, 2022This book is fabulous! It is fun to read to students, with the rhyming words that occur every two lines. Students are engaged with the colorful pictures, vocabulary and ideas that are presented. The author and illustrator portray bright and engaging photos that sprawl across both pages to create an elaborate scene for the reader and listener. The story line shows the characters creativity throughout. When I think about how I could use this book to teach a lesson, my mind goes to creative writing or rhyming practice. Students may be excited and engaged in writing a story about what their house may look like!
May 28, 2017
A little boy imagines his dream house and explains it to his mother in rhyme.
This kid is smart to start off explaining his dream house to his mother with a fully automated kitchen. Smooth kid. Real smooth. Also quite imaginative. I like his trampoline-embedded living room and art room. This and If I Built a Car both feel like something Dr. Seuss accidentally forgot to do so Van Dusen did it for him with just as much zany imagination and catchy rhyming text. Keep your eyes open for Mr. Magee and Dee. They're in here.
This kid is smart to start off explaining his dream house to his mother with a fully automated kitchen. Smooth kid. Real smooth. Also quite imaginative. I like his trampoline-embedded living room and art room. This and If I Built a Car both feel like something Dr. Seuss accidentally forgot to do so Van Dusen did it for him with just as much zany imagination and catchy rhyming text. Keep your eyes open for Mr. Magee and Dee. They're in here.
July 12, 2017
My three-year-old loved this birthday present! (Quoting my review of "If I Built a Car"...) Duane pairs beautiful 1950's-retro-style illustrations with a delightful rhyming text. The book captures the delight of reimagining ordinary objects and could easily inspire art, writing, and STEM activities.
The conversations I had with both my toddler and third-grader around the book were great: Why are there discarded ideas among the brainstorming items? Could you have a room without gravity? Which creatures are in the aquarium? (And so forth...)
The conversations I had with both my toddler and third-grader around the book were great: Why are there discarded ideas among the brainstorming items? Could you have a room without gravity? Which creatures are in the aquarium? (And so forth...)
July 29, 2017
Much of what I wrote for https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... holds true for this book as well. Same great rhyming text with vocabulary that stretches kids' minds, same fabulous mid-century modern illustrations, same imagination-building premise, only this time as it relates to what a child's dream house would be instead of car. Again, one that my kids read over and over and over again. The only cameo appearance from another book we've noticed so far in this one is Jack's dream car in the garage of the dream house.
July 17, 2019
Beautiful, detailed retro illustrations that depict the workings of a young boy's imagination. Inviting the reader on a journey through the boy's dream house, we discover incredible ideas such as racing car and aquarium rooms...melding architecture, fantasy, environment and art. I've now used this quite a few times as an extension text in children's construction inquiries and play to generate enthusiasm and to embolden the possibilities of design. The text is also a treat - with well-written, engaging, and rhythmical language.
June 12, 2024
I haven't read this series but this story is cute! I'm not a huge fan of the illustrations (though I love the inside end page illustrations the most) but it's the illustrator of the Mercy Watson series... however, the story is inspiring and feels like a little nod to Dr. Seuss in the rhyming scheme and my kids totally would do this when they were younger - design their own version of what they would like their house to be. I could see lots of fun projects and discussion coming out of this as a read-aloud.
October 12, 2025
Starting with the blue print end pages and the child with a Lego model at a table in front of a boring house, readers will discover a house that dreams are made of as the boy walks his mother around. The illustrations are bright and wild as they exemplify the unique details of the rooms in the house that Jack would build if he could build a house. I did not realize If I Built a Car had been a part of a series and I am grateful for finding this one at my school library. Definitely will add this one to both of my school collections.
July 8, 2019
Chris Van Dusen is absolutely my favorite illustrator. I think. I don't know. I just know that I find his books super engaging, colorful, and humorous. in "If I Built A House," our imaginations soar with what someone's dream house would be.
There is a water room. A Race track room. A kitchen that does all of the dishes via a robot. You name it. This house has it. I loved asking my storytime kids what they would put in their houses!
There is a water room. A Race track room. A kitchen that does all of the dishes via a robot. You name it. This house has it. I loved asking my storytime kids what they would put in their houses!
August 10, 2019
Chris Van Dusen is one of my favorite illustrators (paired up with Kate DiCamillo for Mercy Watson and other books). He's writing and illustrating some of his own books and this picture book is delightful! A great book with bright, back-to-the-past illustrations about an imaginative boy. What kind of house would you build if the sky was the limit? Great book for engineering minds and creativity.
December 27, 2019
A kid imagines the kind of house he would like to have, including what the rooms would be like and have in them. He then walks his mom through the dream house explaining all of it's marvels!
This very much feels like something my siblings and I would have done as kids! Though we would have had different rooms (definitely a library, maybe a petting zoo (possibly with dragons)?), still fun to romp through another's imagination!
No content issues.
August 31, 2020
I love these books they are so much fun!
Such vibrant colors and exciting designs that you are will wish they were real!
I would love to have the Kitchen-O-Mat, I would never have to wash dishes again and it makes your food for you, how awesome would that be! I also love the race car track room so you could zip around with your friends. But by far my favorite room is the Aquarium where you could swim as much as you want while exploring corals and exotic fish! How cool is that?!
Such vibrant colors and exciting designs that you are will wish they were real!
I would love to have the Kitchen-O-Mat, I would never have to wash dishes again and it makes your food for you, how awesome would that be! I also love the race car track room so you could zip around with your friends. But by far my favorite room is the Aquarium where you could swim as much as you want while exploring corals and exotic fish! How cool is that?!
September 21, 2020
We LOVE these books! They are so creative, colorful, full of imagination. This book is full of inspiring ideas. I love how it shows children that with imagination, there are no limits. It is so fun to see the ideas come to life on the pages of this book. The kids ooh and aah seeing these ideas and dream about how fun it would be to have a house like this one. This is one of our favorite children's books!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 256 reviews