The Great House Hunt Hardcover – Picture Book, March 5, 2013

The pages are big and colorful and are detailed with adorable little critters. There is a lot to look at on these pages. Some kids who like looking at pictures will likely spend lots of time studying these large pages to find all the cute tiny bugs. The book is very tall. I had to adjust my bookcase shelves to make it fit. I think this would be a good book for two or three children to look at together because it's big enough for them to gather around it, and there's room for all of their little hands to hold the book. It probably wouldn't be good for story time with a big group, though, because the wonderful feature of this book is the tiny details. This is one they need to see up close.The story, however, isn't nearly as good as the pictures. The basic story is that the bugs are expecting a baby and need a bigger house for the baby and all of the stuff that they have collected, so they follow a bug who is an inept real estate agent who doesn't listen to his clients' needs and tends to talk about himself instead. The story is written as speech bubbles scattered throughout the pages. The same trio of bugs repeats, like you are walking with the bugs on their house-hunting trip. It's hard to explain, but it's like instead of multiple pages to tell the story, they have combined the pages that are in the same setting. There is a dotted line to follow the bugs as they walk around each page, but the beginning of the line is hard to find on some of the pages. I thought at first that they continued the line from where it ended on the previous page, but that is not always the case. Also, when you move to the next part of the page, there's no indication of which speech bubble to read first. The story didn't make sense in some parts until I puzzled together which bug was speaking first, second, third, etc. in each part of the page. There are also some unusual, unexplained events in the story. For example, on one page, one of the three main characters starts crying, and there's no clue, at least not that I can find, about why the bug is crying. On another page, one of the bugs finds a blue cylinder on the ground and starts kicking it, saying not to let "the lady" eat it because it will poison her. Who is "the lady," and why would "the lady" eat a strange blue object that is laying on the ground? It is a bizarre action that is never explained. Also, the story has no conclusion. It sort of has just a stop instead of an end. If you haven't read it yet and want to be surprised, skip the rest of this paragraph (even though there really isn't anything to give away). It stops with one bug saying there's no time left to look at more houses, and he asks the other bugs if they can make it home on their own. One bug says they can't step on black leaves because they will fall off of the tree. Then it just stops. It doesn't say if the bugs decide to move into one of the houses, to keep looking for another place, or to stay in their current home. I tried to turn the page to see the ending but couldn't because it turned out that the page I was on was not even a page but was the inside of the back cover. It just stops.Other than that, I can tell that the book is intended to be funny, but it isn't. They appear to be inside jokes because they are so strange and unrelated that they must require some kind of insider knowledge that maybe the writers' families and friends know but the reader doesn't. Of course, it's possible that I don't have the right sense of humor for it. Maybe other people will get some laughs out of it. I laugh out loud when I read other books to kids, like the Mo Willems books or the books illustrated by Mike Lowery, but I didn't even get a smile out of this one. Still, it is a very cute book, and I do like the pictures. I collect books about houses and homes, and this one is definitely unique in my library. The pictures alone make the book worth a place on my shelf.In summary: 0 stars for the story, 5 stars for the pictures. I'll round it up to 3 because the pictures are really much better than 5.For those interested in shipping issues:I had some trouble getting the book. I pre-ordered it, and the first copy had a noticeably bent top corner with the cover paper peeling from the bent part. I traded it, and the replacement had a scratched spine with peeling paper. The third copy has only a dented bottom corner, so I figured that was the best it was going to get and gave up on trying to get an undamaged copy. I believe some of the damages are due to Amazon's packaging. They don't wrap books well, and they tend to use boxes much bigger than the items, so the items slide around and get banged and dented or one book will slide inside another book like it's being eaten by the other book. However, most of their products survive the trip, and their customer service is the best of any store I use. Amazon is always willing to trade damaged items at no charge and at a quick speed, so it is worth the risk.

Great illustrations by Marc Boutavant! The story is not so convincing and we really missed a clear ending to it, it's like the house hunt is not over yet, but because it is getting dark they return to the old house... but not because that was the perfect home after all.Me and my daughter were a bit dazzled at the end.

This book was bigger than what I was expected. However the story was very cute and my child enjoyed tracing where characters go.

Bought this book for my toddler and it is not really a kid friendly book. The type is small compared to the rest of the page and the content is not a kid friendly story line. I expected more.

The illustrations are the main reason to buy this book. I bought it after grabbing it at the library and my kids *loved* it. Both my 3 and 5 year old insist I reread the pages where a puffer mushroom explodes with dust (you need to read it with drama for it to seem funny), and other sections where water drops on the characters heads and other such mishaps. I feel lukewarm about the story, I suspect because it was translated from French, and some of the little jokes don't quite make sense.I think Boutavant is (or should be) the next Richard Scarry, for his ability to create engrossing tiny worlds inhabited by creatures who are compelling. I can't get enough of his whimsical, wide-eyed little beings, and I think over time this book will be a rarity, sought after by nuts (like me) who love lushly illustrated kids books.

Un libro precioso y divertido que gustará a toda la familia. El formato es especialmente grande y los niños disfrutan mucho con él. Ilustraciones de Marc Boutavant , muy recomendable.

i love this book beyond belief. my daughter does too!