ONCE UPON A TIME... A HOUSE

by Dulce Rodrigues

"Once Upon A Time... A House" is aimed at helping preserve Nature by creating content that educates, gives information, and inspires children.This captivating, adventurous book received Honorable Mention at the 2013 Hollywood Book Festival, and its French version was awarded a literary prize in France in 2004. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, lonely and forgotten by everybody, a House has one day the joy of seeing different guests come, one by one with the seasons, to build a new life… all of this little community shares the same place and lives peacefully together. Until one day this agreeable quietude is disturbed by the arrival of Man and his faithful friend, the Dog! What lesson must Man learn in order to become less selfish and more respectful of nature? A bitter lesson!

41 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 21, 2015

About the author

Dulce Rodrigues authored sixteen children's books published in several languages, including the three award-winning children's books Once Upon A Time A House, Barry's Adventure, and Il était une Fois une Maison, and a few of her kids' plays were performed in countries in Europe. She also authored two travelogue books and a novel. She speaks six living languages and translates most of her own books. Born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, she received a scholarship to study at the Goethe-Institut in Germany, and one for a scientific course with the Open University in the UK, and wound up living in many different countries around Europe. Now retired after a career that included working for NATO and as a translator for the U.S. Military, she currently lives in Belgium and Portugal. In addition to writing she enjoys travelling, gardening, photography, music, and pets. She also has a passion for History and for all forms of Art that transmit Beauty. Please visit www.barry4kids.net, the children’s website she created for learning with joy in four languages.

Reviews

[Theodene · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a house sitting alone. It misses its previous occupants and doesn't quite enjoy the quiet. The house missed the colorful flowers and goldfish in the pond among other things that were going on. Now it's silent and still, making the house full of sadness. Then one day, a visitor came by. Who could it be? What do they want?

This house slowly gets new visitors, beginning with a spider and eventually many creatures are living amongst each other in harmony. Inside the house as well as outside the house there were creatures doing their own things. Eventually the house was happy again with all these critters filling it with life. Even the flowers began blooming again and other vegetation.

Until one day, a man and his dog arrived. This man did not like many of the critters and chased them away, killing the vegetation and flowers in the process. While the critters the man didn't like left the house, so did the ones he wanted to stay. The man was sad that he had no food to eat because all the critters left, so he sent his dog to look for certain critters.

Will the dog be able to round up all the critters that were chased away from the place they all lived in harmony? Will the critters trust the dog or the man to return to the house?

This is a story my son loved hearing. Although he did comment that he wished there were more pictures, he enjoyed the story. It started off so peaceful and fun to know all these creatures and critters could live in harmony. And all it took was one person to ruin the whole thing. My son was sad that the critters were chased away from their peaceful house.

A complimentary electronic copy of Once Upon a Time...a House was provided for an honest review. Although it is a little too difficult a read for my first grader, he definitely found it entertaining! I recommend this fantastic book to be read to children and adults alike.

This review was originally published at http://www.babookworm808.com/?p=366