When I learned about today’s Perfect Picture Book, I knew I needed to buy it and gift it to the grandkids who live in Colorado near the Rocky Mountains. Shhh! Don’t tell them – it’s a surprise!
Title: Before I Lived Here
Written By: Stacy Jensen
Illustrated By: Victoria Ngai
Publisher/Date: Neal Porter Books/2025
Suitable for Ages: 4-8, and older
Themes/Topics: history, natural history, Colorado, Indigenous Peoples, construction, home, city, Rocky Mountains, dinosaurs.
Opening:
I see the mountains from my house…
But my house wasn’t always here.
Brief Synopsis: A young boy reflects on what existed on the land before his house was there.
Links to Resources:
· Where do you live? Ask you parents or older relatives or neighbors about when and how your home was built and about the area where you live;
· Visit your local library to find out more about the region where you live;
· Visit your local historical society in person or online to discover more about your region’s past;
· Find more resources in the back matter including an Author’s Note with questions you might ask about your home, a glossary, and further resources.
Why I Like this Book:
With short, easy-to-read text and vibrant, full-spread illustrations, Jensen and Ngai take readers on a journey into the past to discover the history of one boy’s home at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
From the outset, readers know that the unnamed narrator’s house “wasn’t always here.” We then learn that the “landscape looked different” before the house was built. Lovers of construction vehicles will enjoy the spread showing them at work leveling the land and digging a foundation. Dinosaur lovers will revel in the spread featuring those creatures inhabiting the forest that predated the prairie. Everyone will learn how one billion years ago the mountains “burst through the earth” to shape “the land around it,” including, we learn, the land where the boy’s house now sits.
Jensen covers a vast amount of time in this journey into the past, but she stays in one location throughout. Ngai’s vibrant, detailed, full-spread illustrations in shades of aqua, yellow, reds, blues, and creams show how this location changes through the eons.
Whether read at home to start a discussion about family history or used as a resource in classrooms, Before I Lived Here is sure to be enjoyed again and again.
A Note about Craft:
Jensen relates the history of a home in reverse chronological order, beginning almost all spreads with “Before the…” She begins and ends this journey with references to the Rocky Mountains outside the young boy’s home, bringing the reader full circle on this journey into the past. Jensen uses first-person point-of-view, enabling readers to see the story from the perspective of the young narrator.
This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!
Wander, Ponder, Write 