The Hello, Goodbye Window

The Hello, Goodbye Window

Author: Norton Juster

Illustrator: Chris Raschka

Ages: K-2 Grades

Rating: 4 Stars

Summary: At Nana and Poppy’s house there is a big window in the kitchen that the little girl refers to as the Hello, Goodbye Window. There a many reasons to look at this window when visiting their house and throughout the story the readers find out just what is so special about this window.

The Hello, Goodbye Window, I feel is directed towards a younger audience. I felt that the text and childlike illustrations would help a child relate to the story in many ways. The illustrations appear to be pastels and water colors and look as if they were drawn by a child. But, this is not a bad thing! The text refers to the illustrations several times to help the reader actually see what is going on. I enjoyed reading this book not only for the pictures, but the story made me think back to when I used to visit my Grandma and Grandpa’s house. They had a kitchen window similar to this one, and although I never considered it a magic window, I was still able to relate to many of the ideas within the story.

If I was planning on teaching in a primary grade-level I would keep this book in my classroom. It would be one of those books to use to help introduce different types of families. It took me a while to even realize that the families portrayed in the book are interracial, but then again, I might not even bring up the idea of interracial families unless a child asked about it.