Houses With a Story: A Dragon’s Den, a Ghostly Mansion, a Library of Lost Books, and 30 More Amazing Places to Explore
Seiji Yoshida, translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash
Harry N. Abrams
Fiction, MG? Fantasy/Graphic Novel/Sci-Fi
Themes: Alternate Timelines and Earths, Books and Libraries, Buildings and Locations with Character, Cross-Genre, Country Tales, Diversity, Dragons, Fantasy Races, Ghosts and Spirits, Magic Workers, Urban Tales
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Description
From the mountaintop sanctuary of a dedicated astronomer to a modern bookshop whose proprietor is more than he seems, from a Victorian mansion with a playful young ghost to the dwelling of a dragon tamer who carries the mail across the mountains, artist Seiji Yoshida presents numerous fantastical homes with hints of the stories behind them and the people (or spirits) who live within.
Review
With strong shades of the whimsicality of Studio Ghibli films and the fantastical locales that feel so real you could
step into them presented by James Gurney in his Dinotopia series, Houses With a Story is precisely what
the title promises: a series of pictures and cutaways presenting all manner of imagined homes and imagined characters in
imagined yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows. These are the kind of imagination-stirring, thought-provoking images that
one could pore over for hours, inspiring tales and perhaps compelling one to draw original homes and characters of one's
own. At the end, Yoshida includes some sketches and a walkthrough of his art process for further inspiration.
That said, there were a few quibbles - nothing truly awful, but a few little nits and itches that held it down a bit in
the ratings. For one thing, the "stories" are uneven; some locales have plenty of extra images and ideas about them,
while others are there and done in a single page, as though the artist were less invested or interested. For another, I
borrowed this via my library and the Hoopla app, and digital was perhaps not the best choice. Though my tablet is not
top-of-the-line, it's not underpowered or underpixeled by any means, yet some of the "zoom" images included to show
details had poor resolution, and navigation was sometimes confusing. Also, there was a certain sameness that settled in;
there were a few outliers that were wildly imaginative, but many of the others started feeling... I suppose "safe" and
"familiar" are the best words, not exploring the far corners of imagination but sticking to what was clearly familiar
territory for the artist.
On the whole, though, this is a fun, undemanding book to page through on a lazy afternoon.