The Apartment Book

by Leo Hartas, Richard Platt

"Imagine Richard Scarry's Busytown updated to a fashionable London apartment building and you have a sense of the energy and detail in this witty, ornate book that will have children demanding to look at it again and again". -- USA Today

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 1995

Reviews

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, it’s like a dollhouse, a very busy and intricate living dollhouse.

I hate residing in apartment buildings but very much enjoyed reading and perusing this book. I would have adored this when I was a child. I’m sure I would have memorized all the happenings. As an adult it was hard for me to pay attention to every detail.

This is a very elaborate picture & text account of a building and its occupants. It’s important that the book was published in 1995 because the residents’ birth years are specified when they’re introduced. Unfortunately, unless it’s clear that this book’s events/time are in 1995, specifying so much can detract from the book.

Ha ha. Dot Splot for the name of the artist.

It takes forever to read this. The print is really small and there’s a lot of it so this is geared for school aged children, not preschoolers.

There’s chaos and hilarity and also parts that I imagine some children might find creepy or even scary. Overall, it’s very enjoyable.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sort of book a person could spend hours reading, examining every minute detail of the illustrations, paging back and forth in order to follow the narratives of different apartment dwellers, trying to figure out just how the front/back views of this building fit together. Children who liked Richard Scarry when they were younger, who are endlessly engrossed by Stephen Biesty's various cross-section titles, will find much to occupy them here - I know I did!

The story (or stories, as the case may be) of the apartment building at 51 Albert Street unfolds in this oversized picture-book, with artists and mad scientists in the attic, sophisticated movie stars, wealthy art patrons, and two happily normal families all living their lives above and below one another. There's even some drama down in the sewers! I would recommended The Apartment Book to all those who enjoy highly detailed picture-narratives - it's a lot of fun!

[Orion · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Apartment Book is an oversize (11"x14") illustrated look into the daily life of an apartment building and its many residents. Each double page illustration shows a cutaway view of an old Victorian building that has five stories and a basement with six apartments. The residents vary, with three families on the first three floors, an actress and her maid on the fourth floor, and an artist and a crazy inventor in two small apartments on the fifth floor. The author has added the maintenance crew, a homeless person seeking temporary shelter, a couple of burglars, and even an alligator that prowls the sewers beneath the basement.

Each of the 14 illustrations shows the events in the house at different times of day, starting at 7 am and ending at one the following morning. The drawings are richly populated with interesting details and the dialog is neatly confined to the sidebars. This is a sumptuous treat for the visually inclined and the residents' stories will keep you interested to the very end. However, with all the activity depicted in this one day, it does not look like a place I would like to live in for long.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much fun! This is the kind of thing I would have loved as a kid. Follow the residents of an apartment building over the course of a day and see what mischief they get up to.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been one of my favorite books since I was a child. Even as an adult I can get lost in it's pages as I visit my old friends here at the apartment. As a child my imagination added so much to this book. I often look at it now and am surprised to not find familiar events in the actual storyline!

[Kathryn]

This sort of thing FASCINATED me as a kid. I still love it!

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the chaos that was happening in every apartment. I think my two favorites were the scientist/professor and the cats.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a bunch of cross-sections of an apartment building at different times of the day. There are simple narratives in each floor that are affected by the actions on other floors. I recognize that the concept of this book was experimental, and that it was written for children. I still wanted a more complex story, with more visual "clues" to the story. Instead it seemed like the story was gag-heavy. I would be interested to see how the cross-section house idea transfers to an app game or something (maybe it already has)? This book gave me inspiration for thinking of new narrative possibilities with books.

[Bel Hernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una familia negra en la que la madre es Médica y el papá cuida a los chicos? Un plomero que está pagando su doctorado en Harvard? Un científico loco que le pide consejos a la mucama de la estrella de cine y una pintora que termina retratando a los bomberos (de los que una es mujer)?
Sí, QUIERO VEINTE.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is ever so much fun and I loved it as a kid. Still do. :)

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. It has enchanted me since my childhood

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book. I loved looking at all the things happening in the apartment building at different times. I would have loved it to be longer, I couldn't get enough. 😊

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twenty years ago my two children and I read this book non-stop. They absolutely loved it, as did I. Now it is battered and well loved, and they are arguing who should get to keep it!

[Gato Negro · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story isn’t good, (could literally be frightening for a small child) but the illustrations are stellar and interesting down to the last detail.

[Bodine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laugh out loud chaos! See myself reaching for it often to look at all the illustrations and details. Can't wait to introduce this to my daughter when she's old enough!

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book illustrates a day in the life of an apartment building by showing activities going on in different units at various times between 7:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. It is truly a very fascinating book. The artistic details of the apartment house, its residents and events occurring throughout the day are just amazing. Every time you turn the page, it shows the same apartment house but later in the day.

The author has a great website: http://www.richardplatt.co.uk/

I read children's books to add to my collection and only buy those I really like when I have the money. I keep a list of the books I don't have yet to buy later.

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice picture book which displays one day in the lives of the tennants of a house: a mad scientist, an artist, two thieves, three families, one starlett, two facility caretakers and lots of cats, mice, birds, dogs and a crocodile. Children who love to search pictures will surely enjoy this smart children's book.

P.S.: This book is identical with "The apartment house".

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book about eighteen years ago. I put it in my five-year-old's bookcase a year or so ago. My son found it last night. He loved the cut-away building and the story.

I had a lot of fun rediscovering this book, too. Only, unlike eighteen years ago, I had to wear magnifying glasses to see everything. :/

[Melusine Parry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an amazing work of genius that there aren't enough superlatives to describe it. My cousins and I were obsessed with it when we were younger. The level of detail is astonishing. Each square centimetre tells a story. Give it to your children and they'll get so glued to it that their PlayStationIII will rust.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a fun book.

[Monica]

This looks like fun.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

It makes it like you're actually living in the apartment.

[Karen Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was hands down my favorite book as a kid and I still love it as an adult!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and the illustrations! So many nooks and crannies to explore on each page with the cross-section of the apartment building exposing the residents within the rooms. So much fun!