Module 3: The Hello, Goodbye Window

(Picture courtesy of Amazon.com)

Summary: This is a story about a window that a young girl says hello and goodbye at to her grandparents. The grandparents tell her it is a fascinating window where magical things can happen. She says that dragons, a queen, and the pizza delivery guy come by to visit at the window. She wants to have a window just like her grandparents when she grows up.

APA: Juster, N. (2005). The Hello, Goodbye Window. New York, NY: Hyperion Book.

Review:

“Nanna and Poppy live in a big house in the middle of town.” In Juster’s paean to loving grandparents, the young narrator relates the small, comforting routines she shares with her grandparents when she visits, from coloring at the kitchen table to counting stars with Nanna to finding all the raisins Poppy hides in her breakfast oatmeal. The quiet, gently humorous first-person narrative presents a very young child’s worldview (“when I get tired I . . . take my nap and nothing happens until I get up”); occasionally, an adult perspective intrudes (“You can be happy and sad at the same time, you know. It just happens that way sometimes”). The familial love that is Juster’s subtext finds overt expression, spectacularly, in Raschka’s illustrations—lush mixed media creations saturated in watercolor and pastel crayon and set off perfectly by white space. In paintings that are freewheeling yet controlled, Raschka incorporates tight circular scribbles (for the little girl’s and Nanna’s hair, for bushes, for clouds), solid shapes (for furniture,for floors); thick strokes of watercolor (for trees, for the door that separates the little girl and her grandparents when her parents come to take her home); and a black line that outlines occasional objects—everything from Poppy’s glasses to electrical outlets to a flower Nanna picks. A varied layout, balancing exterior and interior landscapes with smaller character vignettes, helps sustain the book’s energy. Say hello to Raschka at the top of his form. M.V.P.

Citation: Parravano, M.V. (2005). The Hello, Goodbye Window. Horn Book Magazine, 81(4), 451-452.

Library Use: This book would be a great edition to any library, specifically for elementary and even middle school. It would be a possible read for Grandparents Day; it helps prepare the students and open up a dialogue about memories children may have with their grandparents.