The Home We Dreamed

Per an author’s note, Sandu Budisan’s deeply personal picture book pays tribute to her grandparents’ home and garden in Romania. First-person prose describes “a country far away,” where the narrator’s grandparents build a house by hand while enduring hardships imposed by an oppressive government. Presented as photos in a scrapbook whose pages are turned by a pale-skinned child, gently shaded colored pencil and watercolor illustrations chronicle the simple joy that fills the home as the family grows. “Days passed, as they do,” and soon the grandparents’ offspring depart for a city. After the spare text alludes to political change, the tone shifts with the author’s remembrances of carefree, flower-filled summers. It’s a wistful telling that pinpoints the way place can house memories. Ages 4–8. (May)