The House Takes a Vacation

by Jacqueline Davies

After the Petersons leave for vacation, their house decides it wants to take a holiday, too! But the different parts of the house can’t agree on where to go. Finally, the sunporch suggests the house go to the beach. The basement refuses "to rise to the occasion," but the rest of the house follows the front door as it leads the way—and the house has a vacation that it will never forget! Adding to the appeal are Lee White’s oil and colored pencil illustrations, which bring this "home away from home" tale to a safe and sound conclusion.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Travel, Fantasy, Humor, Summer

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Jacqueline Davies is the author of both novels and picture books. She lives in Needham, Massachusetts with her three children.

Reviews

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for my toddler’s bedtime. A family go on a vacation so the house wants to go on one too. It makes a separate journey from its owner. Good references to the house jokes. The house wants to go to the beach. It’s a funny one.

Read from kindle unlimited.

[La La · Rating 5 out of 5]

The puns are delightful. I'm still laughing!

This story is wonderful! There are even some plays on words to keep the adult reader entertained. It is a smooth read with eye-catching illustrations. The story is written from the house's point of view, but it sums up the human vacation going experience to a tee. I adored it.

THE EBOOK IS ONLY $1.00 RIGHT NOW.

[Gwen - Chew & Digest Books - · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like The Secret Life of Pets, I've often wondered what our houses think when we bail on them for a day or a vacation. No, I'm not crazy, I just have weird thoughts when it's 3 AM and I haven't slept for a couple days.

Cute, beautiful and vivid illustrations.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is fine for houses to go on vacations, but they should not try to surf. I think that is the moral of the story.

[Felicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute book. The illustrations were great. I read this to my girls and they loved it. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

[Cynthia Gutzwiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never ever thought about the idea of a house going on vacation. This was a terrific book. It took into consideration all parts of the house that can see the outside world. Amazing. Your childs imagination will soar into the clouds.
The house decided where it wanted to go on vacation. The family went on one. It sounded fun. They were going to the sea. It took a day and they arrived at night. They, the front door, windows, roof and sun porch were not impressed and wanted to go home. They decided to wait and see the sunrise. The sun porch wanted to feel the sun from the beach. They were so glad they stayed as the sun was coming up and the clouds were leaving. What did they do? How should you find out whst happens in this fun book? Go to the store and ask the salesman? I'm so silly. You get to listen/read to find out. You don't have to wait to find out what this house does during the sunshine. Yeah!!
I found this book on a Kindle Unlimited website and so can you.

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

you know, this book made me think ... i never thought that a house might need to get away ... relax and get a vacation ... so fun. great illustrations ... well definitely make you smile & laugh .... must read. add to your self asap!

[Maria Cristina Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

The house takes a vacation

Excellent, funny,ideal for young children. Congratulations
there is material to ask question an see how creative the little ones are
I am a grandmother and love to play with stories like this

[Jonathan Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read!

My twins loved the story. It was a great read. They read it more then once. They even laughed at some of the concepts of the story. Kids will like this book.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of puns and complex conceptual humor.

[Amy Balaich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book with lots of whimsical puns. It's a little text-heavy for a picture book, but the pictures are very vivid.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just really meh. No interest in reading it again.

[Beth Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

creative fun read

This book is full of Great ideas. My child enjoyed it, especially the Front Door. Engaging fun book for sure!

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its alright I guees

It’s ok it’s not the best I seen it wasn’t that exciting it should be more temping to keep reading

[Sandra Andriese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Text too small

There doesn't seem to be a way to enlarge the text which is very small. Story is just ok, a child won't understand some of the humor.

[Reuella Ivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine of house taking vacation..that's exactly what it is..

[Miah Bartlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really Cute. I really appreciated the house puns.

[Michelle Hodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mommy Bookworm’s Thoughts: I love the illustrations in this book. The house is cute and I think it’s neat how all different parts of it can talk. I like the general idea of the story. In the description on Goodreads, it says that “clever puns in the dialog . . . make this a fun read.” Personally, I disagree. I think the puns are pathetic and are only understood by the adults who read it (or older kids). It is kind of like some animated films where the jokes are aimed at the adults & the animation is more for the kids, and the kids laugh because the parents laugh and the animation is funny, but they don’t really understand the meaning. It’s a cute story & I think that most kids would like it because of the overall gist and illustrations. However, I personally think it’d be better without the words or with different words! It’s another one where it’d be interesting to many ages of children, but it would need to be the higher end of the age range to read it themselves.

Dahlia Bookworm’s Thoughts (11 years old): I like that the house could talk. I thought it was funny that they got lost in the ocean. I like the drawings. I could easily read the book by myself. I would recommend it to kids my age and younger.

Daisy Bookworm’s Thoughts (7 years old): I really like the illustrations. I think it’s funny because the house can talk. I think it’s funny how it walked away. It’s funny that the house thought it could surf. It’s a very funny story. I like how the house brought sea creatures home with it. I would need a little help reading it. I would recommend it to other kids too.

[TinaNoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Peterson Family goes on vacation and the house decides to go as well. But the various parts of the house squabble over where to go (or even whether they should go). After nixing the idea of just visiting other houses in the neighborhood ("Dudes" said the roof "There's no way I'm spending my vacation with the stuccoed up houses in this neighborhood."), they agree to Sunporch's suggestion to go to the Sea, Well all except the basement who refuses to "rise to the occasion.

The strength of this book is the story. The idea of the squabbling parts of the house trying to decide on where to go is great. And the distinct personality and voices of the parts is cute. The book is filled with sly puns ("I feel like I got the flue" mumbled the chimney and "Oh the pane! The pane!" cried the windows) and clever bon mots (at the first sight of the sea the Chimney utters with reverence "Holy Smoke.")

I don't think the art measured up to the pure whimsy of the story. If it had, it would have been a five star for me.

[Mrs. Gabrielle Zastrow's · Rating 4 out of 5]

By Lydia and McKayla
The owners of a house leave on a vacation and the house thinks it should take a vacation too! The house tries to decide where it should go. First, the door picks to go next door, but the windows don't want to. Then, they think about going to a beach or a city. Everyone agrees to go to the beach. They start walking, but the basement screams, "NO FAIR!!!" He was mad he couldn't leave since he was stuck in the ground. So they headed on the road and got stuck in traffic, just behind the family that owns the house. They make it to the beach, but it is night time. They can't get back "home" until morning, but they want to take one swim before they leave. They found a current and then the little girl points out in the water. The house gets stuck in stormy waters. In the end, they all got back home and started dreaming about their next vacation- to the Statue of Liberty! It had a joke ending!

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jacqueline Davies, The House Takes a Vacation Marshall Cavendish, 2007)

I love the idea of this book—when the family goes on vacation, the house decides to do the same—and Jacqueline Davies' writing in that regard is all well and good. It's a cute story, with more than enough puns for sharper young-gradeschoolers to pick up on. But pick this one up from the library first to make sure you, or your kids, don't find Lee White's illustrations to be disconcerting. Okay, not disconcerting, outright creepy. You may be able to tell just by looking at the front cover, but the effect didn't have its way with me until I'd gotten about three-quarters of the way through. ** 1/2

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of the "non-realistic" personification, as compared to The Little House or even The Little Red Pen. As I told my students, their personification has to be "how my pencil feels about being my pencil" not "how my pencil feels about its roadtrip to Disney World." There's a time and a place for both, but in fourth grade I feel like I can push them to the sophistication of seeing every day items in a new way, not writing fantasy-type stories.

If you have the time and the place for the Disney World type story, choose this one!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a family goes on vacation, their house decides to take a trip as well. My kindergarten students were okay with the story but what they really liked was the activity. I gave each of them the house from the story and then let them draw a picture showing the house on vacation. A perfect read aloud and activity in the week before spring break!

My favorite illustration was the one that showed the house gnashing its teeth in traffic.

[Jasmine Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a creative story, but the play on words like, "pane and pain," will not be recieved well with younger children. I think this book was a little bit over my daughter's head. I'm pretty sure she didn't notice the play on words, because her comprehension level is just not there yet. I know some kids comprehension level is sky high, but we'll get there one day...one day soon! :)

[Brandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story tells the funny tale of a house who wishes to explore the world. The house moves from its foundation and takes an elaborate vacation. This would be a cute book to read aloud before a journal prompt. Students could write about where they think their house would go on a vacation. Teachers could talk about the figurative language in the book.

[Nikki]

This book was cute. It was about a house that decides to go on vacation while the owners are gone. Only 1 member of their family sees the house while they are all gone. When they return, the house is all beat up. Was just a cute story and had good illustrations.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't my favorite Davies story, but it was a creative precept. The idea of a house that goes on its own adventure when the family leaves is fun and interesting. I just wish that it had been a bit more developed.

[Paula · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the Petersons are away, their house decides to take a trip to the sea to watch the "Dance of the Sunlight," despite some groaning from the chimney and the basement's refusal to rise to the occasion.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book were enjoyable enough, but the story I found myself thinking, was stupid. And while puns have their place, this book seemed to suffer harder with them in it. Wouldn't reach for this book again.

[richard dunhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read for my three year old grand kid

On
My little three year old l I'll jed it a lot. The two year old did not really get it. The drawing was good for all and enjoyable for me