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A Review by Mira Mateo

Synopsis:

A story about home by Matt de la Peña, describing both the physical and emotional meaning of the word, and celebrating community and the natural world. Through the lives of multiple characters, Home illustrates the idea that "home" is something beyond four walls and a roof---it's community, the natural world, and the unity that we share with each other.

Anti-Bias Elements:

Anti-Bias Illustrations

Through Long's painterly, semi-realistic art style, Home displays a wide range of individuals, old and young, of all different skin colors, hair textures, backgrounds, and occupations multiple times, not just once. Every page has a different-looking person doing a different job. This balanced depiction of diversity doesn’t put any of these different people down for their differences. Home celebrates everyone’s homes in all their different shapes and sizes through a realistic and colorful art style, its illustrations engaging readers by taking up most of the space on every page.

Empowering Relationships and Diverse Lifestyles

The relationships between people in this book promote anti-bias as well by demonstrating the importance of community and unity. In recovering from the floods of a hurricane, the various characters find home in their diverse community, a key sentiment of anti-bias ideology. Though this book doesn’t dive deep into specific cultures, it presents them all in the broader context of being part of a thriving community, which promotes anti-bias ideas because even if their cultures are different, the characters are all one, working together to find home within each other in the wake of an indiscriminate natural disaster. 

Appeal and Relevance to Young Readers

The colors used are brilliant and vibrant and the art style is painterly, with a storyline that depicts characters both experiencing trauma and overcoming it. The story is narrated in second person, drawing the reader into its world. I think this narration style is also particularly anti-bias because it induces empathy in the reader with its repeated use of the words “you” and “yours”, even as the setting and characters change in each illustration. Almost any reader could see someone that looks like themselves or others they see in the world in the book.