Reviews

Carmen and the House That Gaudí Built by Susan Hughes

readersreadingnook's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

anneke_b's review

4.0

Great introduction into Gaudi as an artist and architect.

Historical fiction, set in reality. Wonderfully crafted. Kids liked it.

ljrinaldi's review

4.0

This is an interesting way to explain the architecture of a very cool building in Barcelona that was designed by Antoni Gaudi. This is like a building built by someone on drugs, but no, this is the sort of architecture buildings that Gaudi designed and built.

The house has no sharp corners. There even seems to be a dragon on the roof.

So, to explain this house, this picture book imagines that the daughter of the man who asked Gaudi to build the house, influenced him.

To me, it was more interesting to see the results and the information we do have about Guadi, though no one knows why he did what he did.

The house is UNESCO World Heritage site, and is known as the Casa Batllo.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

kittykult's review

4.0

Carmen has to move away to the city and she is very sad she can't bring her imaginary giant salamander. However, a unique artist is building her new home, and he takes a lot of inspiration from nature. This was a sweet story that introduces children to Gaudi's architectural design. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and it definitely made me more interested in learning more about Gaudi.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

libraryjen's review

4.0

Gorgeously illustrated, this book tells the story of a young girl named Carmen who loves the woods and is afraid to move to the big city. A nice group read aloud, it fits a story time theme of feelings, bravery, houses, family, or nature. Kids will enjoy the fantasy of Carmen and her dragon/salamander and adults will appreciate the author's note at the end explaining how the story is based in true events. Don't miss the picture of the actual Casa Batllo in Barcelona in the back of the book!

Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

graypeape's review

5.0

This is a really gorgeous book that gives an interesting and fun interpretation of how Antoni Gaudi came to design and build Casa Batlló in Barcelona. The story is told from the perspective of Carmen, the youngest daughter of the Batlló family, who does not want to move to the city; she wants to stay in their house in her beloved wild woods, where her imaginary friend lives, a salamander named dragon. Once she meets Gaudi and sees how he uses nature as inspiration in his work, she starts to come around, and is pleasantly surprised when the family finally moves into the house. The artwork is just beautiful throughout, and captures the flavor of Gaudi's work if not exactly duplicating it, and the text is an engaging story. An author's note follows with information about Gaudi, and an exterior photo of the real Casa Batlló. A good starting point for introducing Gaudi to children.

#CarmenandtheHouseThatGaudíBuilt #NetGalley

kristinajean's review

5.0

4.5 stars

smorrison4's review

4.0

Thank you Owlkids Books and NetGalley for the advance digital reading copy of this book.

I really enjoyed how this book shares Antoni Gaudi's work with a new generation. I love that the author used their imagination to create the story behind the choices Gausdi made when designing and building Casa Batllo. The illustrations are beautiful and creative.

youngdi's review against another edition

informative reflective relaxing medium-paced

librarianryan's review against another edition

informative lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

 This book imagines communications between real life architect Antoni Gaudi and the youngest member of the Batllo family as he redesigned the family’s now famous Spanish house.  This story was simply lovely.  It gets the readers interested in the house itself, and proposes a fun theory for why certain elements look as they do.  Overall this book was excellent and had this reader running to google to see more.