Genre 1: The Hello Goodbye Window

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Juster, Norton. 2005. THE HELLO GOODBYE WINDOW. Illustrated by Chris Raschka. New York, NY: Hyperion. ISBN 0786809140

SUMMARY
This is a sweet and colorful story narrated in the voice of a young girl. She tells about the magical window at her Nanna and Poppy's house, the "Hello, Goodbye Window" and all the adventures she has while visiting her grandparents.

ANALYSIS
The bright swirling impressionist illustrations put the reader more firmly in the girl's point of view, as she describes in present tense the rituals and joys of staying overnight with her loving grandparents. In the first double page spread, the reader sees only the narrator's hands as she looks over the fence into her grandparents' yard and sees their expectant faces in the "Hello, Goodbye Window."
Through the childlike whimsy of the illustrations, and through Juster's simple prose, the reader sees the everyday actions of a loving family through the lense of an imaginative child. Commonplace things, like a cat in the garden, take on magical proportions, and rituals like making oatmeal, and saying goodnight to the stars, are sweetly described in her voice. The story is a window on a day and night in the life of a happy extended family, from harmonica playing, to naptime, when the girl is sure that nothing happens until she wakes up.
The drawings are alive and bursting with expression and joy, a perfect rendering of a child's imagination. The book frequently uses the double page spread to draw the reader more completely into the vibrant reality of the story. The text is in a simple black font, and spaced creatively in blocks, usually at the edges of the illustration. The story, although solidly in narrator's perspective, invites older readers to wink at the interpretations the girl puts on everyday activitites in the life of a child. The story also invites older readers to relive and enjoy the magic of living as a child, seeing a dinasaur, a pizza man, and the Queen through the kitchen window. And finally the stay concludes when the young protagonist sees her parents. Children's emotions can sometimes feel overwhelming to them, and Juster describes perfectly the happy-sad feeling of seeing her parents, and knowing that her visit with Nanna and Poppy has come to an end.

REVIEWS
"While the language is bouncy and fun, it is the visual interpretation of this sweet story that sings. Using a bright rainbow palette of saturated color, Raschka's impressionistic, mixed-media illustrations portray a loving, mixed-race family. The artwork is at once lively and energetic, without crowding the story or the words on the page; the simple lines and squiggles of color suggest a child's own drawings, but this is the art of a masterful hand." Starred Review, SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

"The window imagery is less important than the title would make it seem. More intrinsic is Juster's honest portrayal of a child's perceptions (a striped cat in the yard is a tiger) and emotions (being happy and sad at the same time "just happens that way sometimes")." Starred Review, BOOKLIST

CONNECTIONS
Follow storytime with craft time, and have students draw pictures of grandparents or older relatives or friends, and things they enjoy doing with them. With the teacher's help, students could create their own picture books about time they spend with their own extended family or friends.

Use this book to start a storytime unit on grandparents and extended family. Other possible picks for the unit could be Else Minarik's LITTLE BEAR'S VISIT, and Vera Williams' A CHAIR FOR MY MOTHER, which describes a loving non-traditional family.