WOW Review: Volume XVII, Issue 3 • Page 5 of 12 • Worlds of Words

Home
Written by Matt de la Peña
Illustrated by Loren Long
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2025; 40 pp (unpaged)
ISBN: 978-0593110898
Also has a Spanish edition, Hogar

In times of uncertainty, we seek comfort and security, especially in places where we feel surrounded by love. The duo behind Love (2018), Matt de la Peña and Loren Long, consider the many possibilities of home in lyrical reflections and stunning images. This heartfelt picturebook begins with cozy scenes of everyday life through a bedtime lullaby, time with a grandparent, play with blocks, and nighttime sounds that surround a child, with each page indicating different kinds of residences from a big rig to a houseboat. The tone of the book shifts with the comment that sometimes “a home can be lost” and images of floods, storms, and eviction show families at risk. But then comes the reminder that you can find “a harbor in love” through the people who walk alongside, not the house you leave behind. The constant use of “you” invites readers into the book to connect with places and people that matter in their lives. The book ends with a reminder that home is not just four walls but extends to the earth itself. In a compelling close-up image of a child’s face, the earth is reflected in the child’s eyes, stating that earth invites us into harmony as we are carried home. The book is based on a broad definition of home, recognizing that some children do not experience love and security in a place of residence or in their families but with other significant people in their lives.

What immediately stands out in this picturebook is how powerfully the images and words interweave to create layers of meaning and interpretation. It’s clear that this illustrator and author have learned to think with each other. The lyrical nature of the author’s reflections is matched by the emotion of the textured acrylic illustrations. Loren Long states that the illustrations were “crafted by hand on archival foam core with acrylic paint and whatever dust and dog hair happened to be hanging around the artist’s studio.” The families he depicts are culturally diverse and live in urban and rural contexts in different regions of the U.S., but all are surrounded by love to create a sense of home, not as a house, but as love and comfort.

Themes of resilience, healing, and connection are captured in the images and words around home, providing many possible book pairings. One pairing is with their first book, Love (2018), to connect home with love. Other pairings include books on immigrant and refugee experiences and a search for home, such as The Carpet by Dezh Azaad and Nan Cao (2023) about an Afghan family for whom a beloved carpet creates a sense of home in a new place, and The Home We Make by Maham Khwaja and Dabyu Zainab Faidhi (2025), which follows a young Muslim girl and her family as she wonders what will become home on each step of their journey. Food is one way to create a sense of home as evident in Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo (2024), about an immigrant child who feels lost in her new school but finds home in her lunchbox, and A Taste of Home by Richard Ho (2024) in which a tour of the neighborhood reveals a celebration of home through food from many countries. Home can also be a place we return to as in Being Home by Traci Sorrell and Michaela Goade (2024) in which a Cherokee girl moves toward home as her family leaves the city to return to their ancestral land.

Matt de la Peña is an award-winning author of picturebooks, such as The Last Stop on Market Street (2015), and young adult novels. He lives in California and teaches creative writing. Loren Long is an author and illustrator of picturebooks, including the Otis books and The Yellow Bus (2024). He lives in Cincinnati with his family and rescue dog, Charlie.

It’s interesting that so many picturebooks about home are being published in 2024 and 2025, with more arriving every day, indicating the significance of home and connection at a time when the world feels so volatile and unpredictable. In the midst of uncertainty, we need connection and the security of the people and places that symbolize home in our hearts.

Kathy G. Short, University of Arizona

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