Old House, New House: A Child's Exploration of American Architectural Styles

Effectively setting this outstanding review of American residential architecture within a fictional framework, the authors introduce David Houston, whose family is in the process of restoring a Midwestern Victorian home. The boy's congenial first-person narrative--accompanied by Camburn's precise, painstaking drawings--chronicles the changes made to the house over the years, and the progress of the current restoration. Text and art go on to depict the architecturally diverse homes that David's relatives live in today, as well as the styles of houses that his parents and grandparents grew up in, thus providing an overview of various typical American styles of building. Family reminiscences also provide a cleverly constructed segue into descriptions of the architecture of earlier eras. The personal commentary contributed by members of David's family helps make this compendium of architectural styles highly accessible. Gaughenbaugh and Camburn offer readers an intimate, in-depth portrait of domestic life in this country from colonial times to the present. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)