Home, Sweet Home

Today I've got a couple books about animal homes to share. Our theme: animals, nature, environment. 

Who Nests Here? 

by Karen Jameson; illus. by Ramona Kaulitzki 

48 pages; ages 4-8

‎Beach Lane Books, 2026 

 Who nests here?

Whose baby bed? 

Whose family home? 

Whose winter shed?

Spread by spread readers are introduced to visual clues and invited to guess the animal that each home belongs to. Constructed from mud and sand, rock and snow, and nests high in trees, they shelter a diversity of insects and crabs, frogs and squirrels, fish and foxes. 

What I like about this book: I like the “nature detective” feel of this book. One spread shows three homes – as in the spread below: a nest of twigs, a swelling on a twig, a nest of leaves. It invites the reader to study and make a guess before turning the page. I like that the rhyming text, and the space on the page that provides room for imagining. And I like the back matter where kids can find out more about animals that nest in mud or water, rocks or snow.

This is such a cute book that I had to ask Karen One Question:

me: Where do you nest? 

Karen: I write lyrical picture books from my cozy treetop “nest” in Southern California. My nest is filled with treasured book friends - George and Martha, Chrysanthemum,  Blue on Blue, Pug and Pig, Over and Under the Snow, Home in the Woods and many more. Baskets, bookcases, bins and shelves overflow with stories waiting to be savored. A big, soft, double wide reading chair is where I oftentimes dream and draft my stories. Other times, it is a story nest for me and a grandchild or two. We settle into books and snuggles as time slips away. 

My window seat is the best spot for gazing at the happenings outside. Sometimes the garden calls to me. I wander downstairs and out to the backyard to drink in the scented air of lemon trees, roses, geraniums, bottle brush, pink crepe myrtle blossoms and buds galore. The bees are visiting too, as are glorious, shimmering hummingbirds. In warm weather, small lizards bask on the planters doing push ups and chasing one another. I gather a few blooms, fill a small vase, and bring this little bit of heaven up to my nest to dream some more.

Thank you, Karen. That sounds positively delightful! After digging around in my book basket, I found another book about animal homes. This one is written in poetry.

Home 

by Isabelle Simler; translated by Vineet Lal 

68 pages; ages 6-9

‎Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2024

Here’s my little house, 

hanging from the tip of a willow branch, 

just like a fruit.

From bird nests to an octopus den, woven webs to shell-covered homes, readers are taken around the world to see how animals build their homes. Each poem offers clues to animal lives, and back matter provides more information about each creature. The intricate illustrations invite one to linger on the page.

Beyond the Books:

Look for places where animals in your neighborhood make their homes. Where do you notice ants? What about wasps? Do you notice squirrel nests in trees or gopher holes in your yard?

Build a fairy house out of natural materials you find outside: branches from an old Christmas tree, dried leaves, twigs, stones…  

Imagine your life curled up in a leaf or under a stone. Write a poem or draw a picture about what that would be like.

Create a cozy den or nest for yourself either inside or outside. I’m partial to pillow and blanket forts!

Karen is a member of the STEAM Team Books group. You can find out more about her at her at her karenljameson.com. You can find more about recently released STEM and www.steamteambooks.com

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Animal Homes

Home is where you feel safe – and we all need a safe place to sleep, eat, and keep warm (or cool). My home probably doesn’t look like your home, and it definitely doesn’t look like a polar bear’s home. Reading these books is like doing armchair open-houses! Today's themes are: animals, home, family

Finding Home: Amazing Places Animals Live 

by Mike Unwin; illus. by Jenni Desmond 

48 pages; ages 7-9

Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2025 

If you could have any home that you wanted, what would you choose?

Once upon a time I dreamed of living in a castle. And then I had an opportunity to spend a summer in a small dome, with a sleeping loft and just enough room. So I’m always intrigued to see what sorts of housing choices other folks make. Mike Unwin shows the different sorts of homes animals make, from aardvarks to wasps and everything in between.

Readers visit a polar bear snow den, a puffin burrow, and the mobile home of a hermit crab. There are condos for the social beings – termites, wasps, weaver birds – and more solitary accommodations for the loners. There are tree houses, earthen houses, stick houses and houses built of straw.

What I like about this book: the section titles are lots of fun. “Hanging around” for the three-toed sloth who … hangs in the treetops of tropical forests. Or “All sewn up” for the tailorbirds that use plant fibers and spider silk to stitch leaves together for their nest. Main text – and there’s a page full for each species – explains how the animals build their home, raise families, and live in their environment. Supplemental text provides fun facts. 

A Home Like This (Board book )

by Laura Purdie Salas; illus. by Miriam Nerlove 

7 spreads

Creative Editions, 2025

The text and artwork show a diversity of animal homes. Some are open to the sky, some are more sheltered. Some are temporary, some are permanent. 

What I like about this book: read altogether, the pages are a poem. For each spread, illustrations show the animal and its home. The last spread includes some human dwellings amongst the wild, and emphasizes that home is where the heart is. As I was reading this book, I kept feeling as though I’d met this illustrator before. And indeed, I reviewed two of Miriam Nerlove’s board books a few years ago here on this very blog!

Beyond the Books:

Make a drawing or model of your home. If you had to explain to a rabbit or an anteater about where you live, what would you tell them?

Animals use what’s in their habitat to build their homes. Check out this video to see some of the shelters they construct. 

Walk around your yard and take stock of the natural materials you could use to build a home. It could be snow or mud, dried grass or twigs. Then collect a few of those materials and build a model nest or shelter. 

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.