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Carson has been awarded silver medals by the Society of Illustrators for her work on Wildwood Imperium and on Dillweed's Revenge by Florence Parry Heide. I would have treasured this beautiful book with its imaginative survey of houses around the planet and even beyond it!

It was disappointing to see an apartment being depicted as in the city amongst pollution and graffiti, which read (to me) as less desirable than many of the other homes. Is the pairing of an old sailing ship with people living in a wigwam an intentional reference to first contact between Europeans and Native Americans? The illustrations are mainly whimsical depictions of various types of homes, of both people and animals, around the world. She uses her colours sparingly, browns, greys, greens and reds to great effect as we follow a little bird - a migrator free to travel anywhere - around the world (both real and imaginary) to places we may never visit. At some point, Ellis does switch to fanciful imagery and homes that are under the sea, in tree hollows.

From houses in the country to apartments in the city, from living underwater to living on the road, a diverse range of homes is profiled here: identified in simple statements, and depicted in lovely folk-art illustrations. One criticism I have seen that strikes me as misguided is the one that claims that the scene set in a Middle-Eastern palace, complete with underground lair containing piles of gold, is an example of some kind of Orientalist exotification. Carson Ellis attempts to expand acceptance and preclude any judgments towards the classification of homes in, “Home”. Influential artist Carson Ellis makes her solo picture-book debut with a whimsical tribute to the many possibilities of home.

Author/illustrator Carson Ellis adds many little informative features to let you know about life in each type of home. I liked the whimsical story about the many different homes that exist--both real and fantastical--but it was the art that took my breath away. if my children were younger we would have loved to sit and look at this and decide which one we liked best and who we thought would live in each one. Discussion: I could spend hours looking at the pictures in this book, ferreting out half-hidden delightful details. She also cleverly shows you how the very same home can look quite different, as with her comparison of a “clean” home versus a “messy” home.This book looks at different types of homes and while I did appreciate that the reader is invited to guess/wonder at who might reside in a few of the homes, I felt limited by some of the other homes. Home” is recommended to introduce children to the concept of unique homes and would be exceptional in a situation where a family is intending to move. We liked the way some homes were real and some like the Moonian's house and the home of the Norse god were fantasy. The text is sparse and perhaps this would have been better if it rhymed or was more creative, but the book has so much to look at it didn't seem to matter.

She has illustrated a number of books for kids including The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, The Composer Is Dead by Lemony Snicket, and The Wildwood Chronicles by her husband, Colin Meloy. And it doesn’t just cover the habitats of people: for example, one page shows the home of a raccoon, and one shows the home of a Norse god. I'll always have thing for the muted palate/folksy style of The Decemberists' art for that warm feeling the band gave in me in the early 2000s.That said, I wasn't quite as impressed with the narrative, which felt random to me, and not in an appealing way. Influential artist Carson Ellis makes her solo picture-book debut with a beautifully imaginative tribute to the many possibilities of home. Overall, “Home” is a very simple and to-the-point book for the young ones (perhaps too simple); but has a positive message. Ellis begins “Home” by presenting a variety of homes and mentioning the types of creatures to inhabit them.