Changes, Changes

by Pat Hutchins

The little wooden couple are happy in their building-block house -- until it catches fire. The solution? They transform the house into a fire engine! But then there's so much water that they have to build a boat...

The very youngest can "read" this charming, wordless picture book all by themselves.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Mathematics, Geometry, Fiction, Fantasy, Construction

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1971

About the author

Pat Hutchins is an English illustrator and writer of children's books.

She won the 1974 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. The work was The Wind Blew, a picture book in rhyme which she also wrote. It shows how "a crowd of people anxiously chase their belongings" in the wind.

Reviews

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book that I have read from Pat Hutchins, the first book being Rosie's Walk and this book is called “Changes, Changes.” “Changes, Changes” is a wordless picture book that details the adventures of two toy figurines as they build their way into crazy situations. “Changes, Changes” is an extremely creative book for children who love reading books about toys.

This is the first wordless picture book that I have read from Pat Hutchins and I have to tell you that the illustrations themselves have a positive effect on the story! Pat Hutchins has done a great job at illustrating this book as the illustrations are extremely colorful and detailed. I love the way that Pat Hutchins illustrates the toy figurines as small wooden people as they have long noses and large black eyes and look flat on the pages. Also, Pat Hutchins mainly uses black, yellow, red, blue, green, orange, and gray colors in the illustrations which give the illustrations a simplistic yet creative look. Even though there are no words in this book, the illustrations did a great job at explaining the story of how two toy figurines use their imaginations to create their needs through block building and each image details how the two toy figurines build various buildings and transportation to get them out of sticky situations or suit their needs, which is what I really enjoyed about this book.



“Changes, Changes” is truly one of the most original wordless picture books I have ever read since the two toy figurines build their way out of trouble on every page and children will definitely love the creativity that the toy figurines used to get out of tricky situations. I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book and the book would be extremely simple for smaller children to read (or in this case, examine the illustrations).

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have really mixed feelings about this because the first couple of times my 25 month old read it he got extremely upset about the house being on fire. After a few readings he relaxed into it and we verbally anticipated that they would put the fire out, but I think it stressed him out too much - most unusual at our house! Then he kept wanting to go back and read it, but I think he didn't really enjoy it - more to reassure himself maybe? I like that it shows the characters being resourceful and inventive and working together, though. I think maybe it would have been more logical to build more fixed structures like buildings rather than vehicles out of the blocks - but hey I can't tell wooden toys what to do, can I. Pat Hutchins is a funny one, I'll always give her a go (a bit like Pamela Allen) but I don't like all of them.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun and creative wordless picture book about wooden dolls who shift and move different shapes of blocks to create different items, like a house, a boat, a truck and a train.

We enjoyed watching the pages animated as the wordless story is accompanied by music by Frantisek Belfin on a Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD. It included seven other sing-along songs with animations of the illustrated books. It was a great way to see the book in a new way.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wordless book with two wooden characters and a set of blocks. This was an interesting "read" with Aryana and Aleyda as they "controlled" the story as they interpreted it, and the story changed each time they "read" it. Good book to bring out the imagination of a child (and adult) every time you pick it up to "read".

[Ashley Dam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun and creative wordless picture book about wooden dolls who shift and move different shapes of blocks to create different items, like a house, a boat, a truck, and a train. At the beginning of the book, it became visible that they built a house and it caught on fire. The wooden characters built a firetruck to put out the fire. This book was confusing because I wasn't sure of the message the author was trying to send. I think wordless picture books are amazing because there is always a different way of telling the story. Children get to use their imagination and never be wrong because of words on the page. I also think that younger children might get afraid of the first few pages because their house caught on fire, this is a very scary aspect and we don't want children to be scared of the book. This book would be appropriate for pre-kindergarten. An activity I could complete with children would be putting out different types of blocks and they will be able to 'change, change' the blocks into any desired shape. This will also help with imaginary and creative play. Another activity I could complete with children would be having a group of children build something with a small group of blocks. The teacher will then cover the block structure with a large sheet or blanket. One child will then is asked to describe the structure to the other children. These children will try and guess what is underneath the blanket. Once they guessed correctly the child will uncover the creation. Continue the activity by allowing different groups of children to build with the blocks and having children take turns describing the creations

[Cristina Quintero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Changes, Changes is an entertaining wordless book for young children. Children relate to this book because the illustrations are formed with one of their favorite toys...wooden blocks! Pat Hutchins' creativity and imagination reflects in the story line as the wooden family goes from building a house that catches on fire to building a firetruck , then a boat, a train, a truck, etc as they adapt to the situations that they encounter. This book is a great tool to help build on to language and vocabulary for the child with limited language. It can also be used to teach children about cause-and-effect relationships. It can also be an outstanding addition to a "transportation" study. I like to set this book at my block center and watch the children use building blocks to recreate the story with actual wooden blocks and retell it using their own words. In the past, I also noticed that children pick-up on the concept of patterns while they are recreating the story using color blocks.

[Morgen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Changes, Changes is a wordless POETRY PICTURE BOOK. This book is filled with wooden blocks, structures made from wooden blocks, and wooden people. The blocks are very colorful. The IllUSTRATOR looks like they used sketching with pencil and colors as their TECHNIQUE. A wooden couple works together to build a house. The house catches on fire. They save what they can and build different vehicles to get them to a new place. In the end, they build a new house. I believe the AUTHOR'S PURPOSE in this text is to show that not all changes are bad. Also, that if something bad happens it can be fixed in a new and better way. EMERGING READERS can just look at the pictures telling the story and come up with their own words. Children can work on prediction skills by predicting what is going to happen on the following page. I do not think that this book is for everybody, although it is a good wordless book, wordless books are not to everyone's liking. You have to appreciate the art of telling a story which I do.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wordless story (which has been adapted to film by Weston Woods studios, distributed recently through Scholastic Book Clubs) is perfect for engaging your little ones in "dialogic reading". The adult provides conversation or story prompts such as "What is happening?" and the child responds.

I have attended a workshop recently on "dialogic reading" in which I was horrified to see the educational community destroy this natural and entertaining process by making it completely instructional in nature.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a clever little wordless picture book that would be a great resource for pre-readers or early readers. There is a simplicity to the story of toys using blocks to build things until something goes wrong and they must find out how to escape danger and solve their problem.

It would be wonderful for children who are not yet, or have just begun, reading. After all, the skill of following the illustrations in a picture book can be a form of literacy unto itself and this book would allow a child to enjoy the magic of reading a story even if they can't decode a single word yet.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this wordless picture book, all of the illustrations are done as if the characters are little toys and they are building with blocks. Their efforts fall apart so they just reorganize and build new things and go on different adventures. Entertaining and fun to look through and imagine your own story.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wordless picture book classic about two wooden dolls and their house made of building blocks that transforms into different objects. This will pair well with Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon.

[Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spanish version is called “Cambios, cambios”. Super easy to read as the only words are in the title. Ha!

This is just a picture book. The illustrations are quite fabulous and I like the story although it’s just told in pictures.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Promotes using your imagination.

[K Morlando · Rating 2 out of 5]

No words in this book but various pictures of blocks and block people on an adventure.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My class really likes it but I find it a little boring.

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wordless picture book. Cute and fun.

[Nancy Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story with no pictures. Part of building theme.

[Alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's no words, but the creativity in each page really sparks the young one's imagination.

[Dustin Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best written children's books I've read!

[Chris Seltzer · Rating 2 out of 5]

For some reason goodreads seems to have incorrectly merged this sociology textbook with a children's book?

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clever.

[Marissa]

This book would be appropriate for the preschool/pre-k age group (ages 3-5).

This book "Changes, Changes" is about two 'people blocks' who get out of their box. They begin to build a structure. It becomes visible that their structure catches fire and things need to change. Suddenly the two decide to change pieces of the structure in order to create something that will help! Read it yourself to find out what they build in order to adapt to the changes around them and what happens next!

This book is great for kids (and in my opinion-especially boys) because they love to build with blocks. The simplicity of this book allows children to be able to easily identify what's going on. The ideas presented in this book show that no matter what, you can adapt and change.

This book would be great for a picture walk. Another great use for this book, as it's open ended, is asking questions and allowing each child to uniquely makeup a story for the pictures.

[Jordan Brovelli]

I chose Changes, Changes by Pat Hutchins for my "wordless" book. Wordless books can be interpreted in many different ways, I think. I enjoyed the details in the pictures and the colors that were used. The blocks and the water were very detailed but the people were not as detailed so they stood out in each picture. I thought Hutchins did a good job in choosing to use the color blue only on the two people in the first couple pages so that they stood out more and my eyes were drawn to them. However, I don't think I like to read wordless books. I understand that the two people were building their house together. I'm assuming they were husband and wife because they are hugging in some of the later pages. I don't understand why their houses kept catching on fire though. It was creative that they built a boat to go across the water and then a train to get to the spot that they would build their new house but I think I was lost throughout the book because I was trying to figure out why the house kept catching on fire. To me it seems like the man and the woman just have really bad luck with building houses. I think that this book would be a useful tool in a story telling lesson for younger students though. I could use this book with a group of kindergarteners and ask them to look at the pictures and tell me the story. It would be interesting to hear what the students would come up with. Hutchins pictures would be perfect to use in this activity because they can be interpreted in many ways and kindergarteners have very vivid imaginations. I don't think I would personal use many wordless books in my classroom except for an activity such as story telling.

[Daniel Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the story of two dolls that have a set of blocks which they use for many different purposes. In the beginning, the blocks almost function as a stage, setting the story for the audience which they have. The stage then sets on fire, and the dolls use different blocks to “build” a hose. The water becomes so much that they are eventually on a lake, and use the blocks to “build” a boat. They then get on land again and “build” a truck.
I think this would be a good story for, again, having students come up with their own narrative. However, I think this book could also be useful for introducing the idea of inventions for a science unit. An instructor could have students read this story and then give them some blocks and “invent” something useful that the dolls could have used in the story as well; that, or the instructor could create a “new” problem for the dolls, and the students “invent” something to help the dolls out. This will allow students to be creative and hone their problem solving skills in the real world.

[Janelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my non-word picture book selections. It was an interesting picture book. I personally found myself somewhat confused by the message it was trying to convey, thus I am curious what children who take from it. It was about a couple of block people who are constantly having to rebuild their blocks into something else when finally in the end, each thing they built led them to their new block home. I'm not entirely sure how this book could be used in the classroom other then to teach kids about changes and how even when one building block crumbles, something new can be made out of what remains (thus, an adaptation of life mishaps!).

[Ashley Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detail!
This book by Pat Hutchins is amazing in illustration! Because it is wordless, it is key to have illustrations that have a positive effect on the book and she has done it:).
Hutchins' book is a story about toys that build different structures to overcome obstacles. The detail is simplistic yet awesome! It seems that Hutchins made a decision to only use primary colors, which works with younger children.
I would give this book 5 stars because it is completely original and the best wordless storybook I have ever... seen!

[Sarah Pfingston · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book I found a bit weird. As I was reading i got confused. I did not know what some of the picture were suppose to be. What i did get from the book was that there were two people and they were constantly changing their building blocks into objects they needed. I would not recommend this book. I think it could become confusing for young children. Also, I found the illustrations to be boring and not enough color. Overall, I did not like this book.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wordless book -

This wordless book is a great opportunity for children to use their imagination. The book has vibrant illustrations and will be appealing to younger children; the use of building blocks throughout the book makes it relevant to their lives.
This book can be used when practicing using illustrations to understand a story - students will need to tell the story based on the pictures.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wooden couple comes to life and must make changes after their house catches on fire. What creations will they make?

I enjoy stories in which toys come to life and this wordless tale is no different. Younger children will certainly love this story. I would follow-up by having them recreate the scenes with building blocks.

[Abbey Pace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the bright colors and changing illustrations, I found this book very boring. In my opinion, it needed words in order for it to capture my full attention. As for a 3, 4, or 5 year old, I think they would enjoy making up stories that go along with the pictures, while also learning a valuable lesson that life is full of adversity, and also overcoming the challenges that will come.