Caldecott #3 The Hello, Goodbye Window

The Hello, Goodbye Window (2005)
Written by Norton Juster and Illustrated by Chris Raschka
Cadelcott Medal Winner 2006

As I read this book, I could picture my parents house in the country. With the large windows that go from the ceiling to the floor, and the wide wrap-around porch. My parents cannot wait to be grandparents! The Hello, Goodbye Window create grandparents that I believe will resemble my parents one day. The illustrator, Chris Raschka, created the illustrations in a way that makes the reader feel like a child again visiting their own grandparents. The bright, colorful illustrations immediately put a smile on my face from the very first page. Each page is filled with illustrations that look like a kindergartners finger painting artwork hanging on the refrigerator. It was some what intriguing that the facial features of the characters seemed distorted (for the lack of a better word). It allows the reader to imagine what they character may look like in their own minds, which allows the reader to personally connect to the story. One of the aspects of the story I truly enjoyed was the way in which the story was written. It is written from the perspective of a small child. In my mind, I imagined a five or six year old boy. The story never says whether the child is a boy or a girl, so I think boys and girls alike would enjoy the story. Even if a reader does not have a set of grandparents with a hello, goodbye window, I believe they can connect to the strong bonds that the author, Norton Juster, has created. I enjoyed this book so much, I shared it with my parents. They too could imagine the same scenarios in their minds as I had. I did not have grandparents with a hello, goodbye window, nor the bond between grandparent and grandchild. This book did allow me to picture the wonderful advantage that my children will have with my parents in the future. This book will certainly be purchased for classroom and personal use!