Goodbye House, Hello House

The little girl, whom we discover is called Emma, is moving from her old home to her new one, and in wonderful pictures full of thick black lines superimposed over flowing landscapes we see her saying goodbye to all the things she has loved and enjoyed in her old house: trees and animals out of doors and all the separate rooms inside. Last of all, we see her changing the wording on the wall in her room to ‘Emma lived here’. When she gets to the new house, there is so much to see and do both outside and in, and she is soon exploring it all, saying ‘hello’ to each new place. This is a wonderful introduction to moving house, and while Emma seems cheerful about it all, there is an underlying nostalgia about the old house. ‘This is the last time I will eat at this table’ for instance.  There are lots of ‘lasts’ before the ‘firsts’ come along, and we sense that Emma has some ambivalence about the move. She is always shown in flat white with thick black lines outlining her body and showing her expressions. The few background landscapes in what appears to be watercolour have a feel of Australia about them, and are beautifully done, but the emphasis is on Emma and her experiences. At the end we see her writing on the wall of her new bedroom ‘Emma lives here now’ and we know the transition has been made. A lovely story.