One of my testers recently informed me that his best friend lived in a flat. "S'not a flat! It's my home !" retorted the friend. Interesting stuff, I thought. I set off to hunt down books about homes and houses - and found that some of the best stories have been around for several years.
My first find was Knock, Knock! Who's There? by the wonderful Rose Impey (Orchard, £3.99). This is a bargain - two new retellings for the price of one. Little Frisky Mouse is most generous in the way she shares her little house - but Rumbling-Bumbling Bear is just too big.
Hare has problems too; no one is brave enough to help when a squatter moves in. It's ideal for early readers - clear print, lots of repetition, brilliant black and white pictures by Louise Voce - but don't miss out on this book's potential for the younger set. Read it out loud - the language is fabulous; no one could possibly resist joining in.
Michael Rosen's This is Our House (Walker, £4.99) also features a cardboard box - but this one is inhabited by George, who wants it all for himself. Bob Graham's subtly humorous pictures pull the reader right into the story by using colour to focus the attention on the immediate action; the background is monotone. Don't ignore anything, though - spot Luther playing with his jumbo jet long before it crash lands - and check out the back cover. Houses are much happier places if you all work together...
Then we go from cardboard houses to the real sort with front doors that a little boy can slam bang! - leaving himself on the inside and his mother on the outside. That's Alfie Gets In First by Shirley Hughes (Red Fox, £3.99), which although originally published in 1981 still entrances small children and makes adults smile wryly - been there, done that.
Harry's Home (Orchard, £4.99), by Catherine and Laurence Anholt, is gently perceptive with pictures stuffed full of glorious detail. Harry lives in the city, but now he's old enough to go and stay with Grandad on his own.
They take a bus, a train, a boat, a bus, and a taxi - and finally arrive at Grandad's farmhouse. It's all very strange and different; Harry isn't certain about it at first, just as Grandad isn't sure about the city. This is an ideal introduction to the idea that there's more than one way of living and it's fun to go and see; home will be safely waiting for you.
In Over in the Grasslands (Macmillan, £4.99), Anna Wilson has taken the old rhyme "Over in the grasslands in the heat of the sun, Lived an old mother rhino and her little rhino one" and given it a fresh feel with a starry cast including jackals and warthogs, all painted in sparkling colour by Alison Bartlett. My younger testers chortled at every single picture and demanded several re-readings; they are now experts about bees living in beehives and eagles in nests.
Finally there's The Visitors Who Came to Stay (Walker, £9.99), written by Annalena McAfee with illustrations by Anthony Browne. This is a new edition, even more breathtakingly beautiful than the1984 version. Katie, living by the sea, resents the intrusion of Dad's friend Mary and her son Sean into her neat and tidy home.
It's a pleasantly told story, but Anthony Browne's extraordinary pictures present such strong visual metaphors that any imaginative child will understand Katie's feelings without reading a word - and, what's more, will understand more about Katie than she does herself. The emotions run very deep - but at the same time there's a wicked sense of humour. Find the rubber plant.
