The House That Floated

by Guojing

A stunningly beautiful picture book from a critically acclaimed artist that follows a family who lives in a house by the sea as water levels start to rise.

A BOOKPAGE AND HORN BOOK BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

In this gorgeous, wordless story, a family makes their home on a cliff overlooking the sea. They live peacefully, spending their days exploring the ocean and filling their home with warmth and laughter. But as seasons pass, the waters rise, bringing the tides closer to the clifftop and the house. When a powerful storm rages and giant waves engulf the cliff, the family must leave—but not without their beloved home.

    Inspired by true stories of communities relocating houses, award-winning artist Guojing evokes a family’s ingenuity and determination to save their home in a moving portrait of empathy, love and strength. Through dreamy ocean scenes and vibrant tones of red, pinks and blues, this striking narrative offers an adventure story with a dramatic and glorious ending.

Genres: Picture Books, Family, Childrens, Fiction, Environment, Climate Change, Nature

40 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2025

About the author

Guojing (Jing Guo) is an illustrator and concept artist. Previously she worked in the game and animation industry. She is now a professional illustrator. Her wordless picture book, ‘The Only Child’, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2015, and a Publishers Weekly Book of 2015, is published by Schwartz and Wade (Random House, Dec, 2015). The story is based on her own experiences as a child. Guojing is also planning her next picture book. She also likes to paint in oils in her spare time. She loves to share her ideas and feelings through her art work.

Offical website: www.guojingart.com

(from http://www.creativeauthors.co.uk/illu...)

Reviews

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous wordless picture book describing adaptation to climate change.

Highly recommended.

[Kendall Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guojing expertly utilizes art as a storytelling medium, transcending the need for words. This wordless story is told entirely in illustrations, making this story accessible to everyone. Guojing’s art follows a family living in a small red house. The house sits on a cliff above the sea. As water levels continue to rise, the family is determined to save their home. They creatively lower to house onto a raft, where it floats on the waves and eventually comes to rest on safer grounds. Children might find this story reminiscent to Pixar’s Up, yet Guojing’s story is more culturally relevant. Her story spreads awareness on climate change and its impact on families and communities around the world. Rising sea levels threaten to displace communities from their homes, such as the Island of Tuvalu, which is slowly sinking below sea level. If this sinking island succumbs to the sea, more than 11,000 people will be forced to flee their homes. This threatens not only their wellbeing but can potentially erase their culture and traditions. Stories like Guojing’s show to dangers that global warming and climate change can do. This is an excellent way to introduce young children onto the topic of climate change, tie in real-life examples, and encourage students to make a difference.

[Alene · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful wordless book about family, kindness, courage, and friendship. Perfect for retelling in an language.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite illustrations: the tiny clothesline, the page spread directly following that, and the carving page spread.

[Cheryl]

Impulse grab at the library. I had no idea what to think until I read the blurb - I find wordless stories difficult to parse. So I 'reread' it and still don't know what to think. Given that it's inspired by true stories, I'll accept it rather than rate it low, but still. You'll have to see for yourself, if you're interested.

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relyn Rating: 3.5 stars

I do love a good wordless picture book. The art in this book was amazing. The story way... fine.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another beautiful book by this author.

[Becky R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunningly beautiful and timely.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful, wonderfully-illustrated wordless story about a young fisherman's family as they are forced to adapt and remake a new life when floodwaters reach their doorstep.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wordless book. There once was a house on a cliff. There was a tree, some chairs, and a clothesline by the house. A weathervane was on top of the house. Inside the house, lived a lady and her son. Underneath the cliff, the ocean stretched on for miles. A woman and her son lived in the house. Walking down the cliff, the family would take their fishing boat out into the ocean. One afternoon, the family successfully rescues a trapped animal in the ocean.

Time passes and the family grows. The illustrations do a wonderful job showing the progression of time as a baby is born and grows into a young child. It’s a fantastic day in the water when the family realizes that over time, their family is not the only family that has grown.

A violent storm develops and hits the cliff, unleashing its power on the house and everything around it. In its aftermath, the landscape has changed, and the family has some major decisions to make concerning their future. What was their home and their land is no longer sustainable, what now?
This was a powerful story, and I enjoyed the details of the illustrations. I enjoy the facial expressions yet this book being a wordless one, didn’t provide many of them. I was surprised how well the story flowed without them. There was plenty of color on the illustrations without them being loud and overpowering. Great story! 5 stars

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A couple lives in a little red house at the top of a high cliff hundreds of feet above the sea. The seasons change and soon there is a child with them. One day, there is a huge storm, and then the little house is surrounded by water. The family of three builds a raft and hauls their little house to a new home, high above the water, near a lighthouse.

This is a deceptively simple story, make dramatic and rich by the beautiful graphic art. The artist shows two chairs next to the house, and then three, to indicate the child; we see the seasons pass by observing the weather around the family; the couple frees a dolphin caught in a net, and years later the little one is treated to a beautiful display by a pod of dolphins; we see the hand carved animals on the mantel increase as the family has new experiences. The sense of family love and security are palpable in the illustrations. But nothing compares to the magnitude of the storm which completely changes the family’s, and the reader’s sense of calm. The mighty power of nature is frightening, but the storm is over within two full spreads, and the reader can breathe a sigh of relief. This family has one another, and so they make the changes they need to make to survive. Wordless panels, one to four a page, are gorgeously composed snapshots executed in colored chalk with digital finishing.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book genuinely had one of the most gorgeous art styles I’ve had the pleasure of reading from. It had this lovely fuzziness to it, and how Guojing detailed the ocean was striking. I also adored the variation in colour palette.

I think the message of the story got a bit lost considering this is a children’s picture book. As an adult I have lots of context to bring to the story to help the interpretation, and I suppose that’s what’s needed when a child reads this - an adult to help them with it. I did really like what the author was exploring - the effect of rising sea levels on vulnerable communities. I also liked that it was hard to notice the rising sea as a reader until it was upon the MCs, much like what happens in real life. The image of the boat towing the floating house was an incredible visual, representative of both the real house relocations Guojing was inspired by, and of climate refugees having to take only what they can carry as they are displaced and seek a new home. I was also taken by the family saying goodbye to the tree, representing saying goodbye to their homeland. The fact it was able to convey all of this wordlessly is a real credit to the author.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chinese-Canadian illustrator and picture book creator Guojing's sweet and melancholy and ultimately hopeful wordless picture book about a family living on the edge of the ocean. They love it there, exploring the sea world, though weather is changing and sea level is changing, as we should now all know, for all coastal inhabitants. This book is based on her own knowledge of people who have had to move because of climate change, but the focus of the story is not explicitly about this now and future tragedy, but it instead gets to he hopeful as they move their home to higher ground. They adapt.

To do that they have to uproot the house and "float it" on the sea, via tugboat, to a place upshore and then use a crane to lift it to a new location. I had my doubts about this, but maybe I can find some confirmation from the author on her website that something like this actually happened. I mean, yes, I have seen houses moved, but a floating house? I will amend if I find anything in my sleuthing.

but the story the family, the sea animals, the connection with each other, all so wordlessly beautiful.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The luminous colored chalk and Photoshop illustrations in this wordless picture book encourage readers to look at them a second, third and even a fourth time. They effectively capture the warmth and beauty of a natural setting where a family makes its home, starting with a courting couple and then adding a child. Words would be redundant as the father shows his child how to carve a dolphin out of wood, and it's placed on the mantle right next to the one he carved earlier and beneath a family portrait. Theirs is an idyllic world, living happily in their home nestled at the top of a cliff high above the sea. But when a storm and rising water threaten their house, they scamper to save it, working together as quickly as possible. The panels in which they saw farewell to the pink-blossomed tree in their yard and then look longingly at what they've left behind are particularly moving. This picture book brings to mind some of those scenes on news reports after rivers flood and some homes, anchored desperately with ropes, are pulled into the water, lost to their owners.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author: Guojing
Title: The House That Floated
Publication date: 2025
Category: Wordless Picture Book
Brief Annotation: A family has to move their house after water rose to meet the house that was on a cliff.
Interest level: Pre-K to Kindergarten
Themes: Family, storm, house
Ways to use this book with children: It can be used to build children's narrative skills and the class can help tell the story.
Diversity: Possible Chinese/Asian family, hard for me to tell, but I am basing this off the author's background.
Where/how you found the book: Searching for wordless picture books.
Other Information: N/A

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm now the biggest fan of Guojing. After she published Oasis, I knew I needed more by her and this wordless picture book is just the treat. A family needing to start fresh with their house that they creatively floated from their perched home on a cliff to a new space. It's about community and teamwork, appreciating what you have, and what the comfort at home means.

Guojing's art and emotion is second to none!

[Erin (bookwitchenergy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are no words at all in this picture book, but it doesn't need them. The artwork is soft and so beautiful.

To summarize: a young couple live on an island and have a child. One day, the waters rise and almost flood their little house on the island, and they realize that they can't stay there. What follows is a visual depiction of lifting the house onto a raft and moving it to higher ground near a lighthouse, and it's incredible to see.

I highly recommend this one for readers young and old!

[Alisha (booksmellz) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wordless children’s picture book about saving a house on a cliff after the ocean’s water levels rise.

I haven’t read wordless children’s books too often, though I have read wordless, and nearly wordless graphic novels quite a few times. They are absolutely a different style of reading. There’s nothing really tying you to the characters except what’s happening in the scene around them.

As a kid, I think this would be the book I would have picked up and “read aloud”, inserting my own narrative and dialog, and then be proud of the story I just “read” to my parents.

Overall, beautiful and detailed snapshots of the story that doesn’t need any words to help move it along.

[Read Ribbet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful wordless picture book by Chinese artist Guojing. The book shares the story of a growing family that lives in a house that is precariously perched on a cliff hanging out over the sea. When a pending storm threatens the house, the family must come up with a creative way to rescue the house. The story is vividly told through Guojing's illustrations that contain a lot of foreshadowing details.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just moving the house is not a solution to the disastrous effects of climate change. Move the house but leave the foundation of willful ignorance is what this wordless story seems to be saying, which is also the message that humans keep passing on from generation to generation. Guojing’s lovely illustrations can’t seem to soften this unfortunate storyline. Maybe a lot more houses will need to sink.

[Andrew Dittmar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The House That Floated by Guojing


Reading history:
Normally I keep this in my private notes section, but I'm moving it. Yay!

Reading history was not added on Goodreads, but was instead kept on a post-it note with the book.


Started November 12th, 2025.
Finished November 12th, 2025.


November 12th, 2025: read entire book in physical copy.

[Kristin Eoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this picture book for the 2025 52 Book Club "climate change" prompt. The book has nice chalk drawings and a hopeful message. My favorite pictures are the ones of the family photos and carved whales on the mantel and the one of all the little baby clothes on the clothesline. The drawings aren't very realistic but are dreamy and evocative, especially the fuzzy pink blossoms on the tree.

[Dawn Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A visually stunning wordless picture book, there is action, beauty, and a quiet message of appreciating and protecting nature. Such a unique story that pulls together readers and listeners to interact with the story in a meaningful conversation about the story's action and intent. The illustrations are very powerful and emotional.

[Laura Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book with beautiful pictures. A family living in a home on a cliff above the ocean enjoy exploring the waters around them on their boat. As a storm approaches, they realize they must move their house or lose it. Piece by piece with determination they take it apart and eventually rebuild it. Based on stories of people who have had to move their homes during dangerous storms.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars
This wordless picture book conveys the story of a family and a house. The house sits on the edge of a cliff jutting over the sea. The family appreciates all the nature around them until the waters rise and they must make a decision to float their house off to a new location. Just breathtakingly beautiful.

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely wordless story with wonderful illustrations. A couple lives in a small house, has a child, then faces a storm that shows them that where they live is not safe from nature. The house has to move across the water to a safer location.

The emotions, challenges, and their lives are told in the simple illustrations. It really is lovely and very well done.

[Holly Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow! Such stunning illustrations to sad yet uplifting (pun intended) story of a couple, then family that move their house as water levels rise to a flood level.

Gorgeous illustrations tell a story that might have been more complex.

[ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok wait i kinda get the appeal of guojing now cuz as i was reading i was like this would be so soothing as an animated cartoon pero like… it’s the same story just in tangible stills. no one’s really doing it like them & they helped me meet my reading goal in a week 😂

[Abby Carothers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Brough back memories, Growing up I had a few wordless books that my parents and I would change up the story regularly. While this is great way to develop personal language skills it would do little in a classroom setting.

[Angela De Groot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning wordless picture book about a family living lovingly and simply off the sea, their cottage perched on the edge of a remote cliff. After a powerful storm the family needs to move their home to a safer spot.