The House on the Canal by Thomas Harding, illustrated by Britta Teckentrup and published by Candlewick Studio reminds you why picture books are so important. The gorgeous illustrations are like framed pieces of art. It is wonderful in its ability to educate readers about the famous home where Anne Frank hid, and also deep in its meaning.
It is the kind of book that teaches you as much about the present as it does the past and is as much for children as it is for adults. It is the kind of book that elevates your experience as a reader and writer. And one where you gain something new every time you read it.
What I thought would solely be about Anne Frank was actually about our shared experience. It tells a story of how a piece of untouched land is created into a town with a house that provides shelter for generations and is imbued with memories from love to plague and death. It encapsulates the triumphs and tribulations of the human experience.
Readers are taken on a journey from the 1600s all the way to the present. Its walls house memories and is a reminder of the things we leave behind and how our own individual lives are tiny compared to life as a whole.
As a writer, I am impressed with Harding’s ability to take such robust historical information and make it interesting for young readers. For example, the sensory details like the sounds of the church bells, which stop when the soldiers come, or the smell of rotten eggs when the marshland was overrun with people or the soldiers that come, “BOOM BOOM BOOM,” that, “shouted for people to come OUT! OUT! OUT!” Or powerful sentences like these that make me pause to reflect on its meaning in the story and my own life.
“Each minute was a day. Each day was a year.”
Harding succeeded in creating a visceral experience which put us in Anne’s shoes, hidden in a dark space, afraid of being found.
The illustrations are dark and moody, and made to look like a collage with real pictures of the famous house on the canal as well as figures that look like paper doll cut-outs. Anne and her father are the only ones with real features on their face. It resembles vintage photographs in an old photo album or a newspaper clipping.
This is one of my favorite picture books. One that I will likely read over and over again.
