Free to a Good Home

by Colin Thompson

Random House Australia. Australian, Young Reader, Junior, Australian. Paperback rrp $24.95

Some children bring home stray animals? But what would happen if your children brought home an old lady?

This beautiful and quirky story answers that question when the Smith family end up sharing their home and their lives with an old lady.

But the Smith children, Peter and Sally, collected an old lady.
They found her at the shopping mall and took her home with them.

Not only do the Smith’s gain a “granny” who can cook, clean, look after the children and repair things but the old lady gets a family who delight in her cooking and cleaning and love her just as she is.

I was jealous reading this book. My children’s grandparents all live far away and we don’t have the luxury of a “granny” in our house. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if my children brought home a “granny”?

Thompson’s illustrations are eye-catching and quirky. Free to a Good Home not only is a book to read but it is a wonderful artistic picture book that you just want to pick up and look through – so many things on every page to see. Great story, brilliant pictures, great idea!

Colin Thompson has won a number of awards. His novel How to Live Forever won an Aurealis Award and The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley won the 2006 CBC Picture Book of the Year. The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness has been shortlisted for the 2009 Children’s Book Council Award for Best Picture Book.

http://www.colinthompson.com/