Thomas Harding is the author of the Kate Greenaway Award long-list selection The House by the Lake, illustrated by Britta Teckentrup. A journalist who has written for the Financial Times, the Sunday Times (London), the Washington Post, and the Guardian, among other publications, he also cofounded a television station in Oxford, England, and is an award-winning documentary maker. Thomas Harding lives in England with his family.

Britta Teckentrup's strikingly beautiful picture books have been published in more than twenty countries. She illustrated The House by the Lake, also by Thomas Harding, which was long-listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Born in Hamburg and educated in London at Central Saint Martin's and the Royal College of Art, she now lives with her family in Berlin.

Harding employs highly descriptive sensory language, heightening the emotions. Readers will emerge simultaneously awed by the passage of time and personally affected by the stories told. Teckentrup overlays her bright, exquisitely detailed sepia-toned depictions of the house and its environs with a misty haze; the results are hauntingly beautiful. Deeply moving, powerful, and breathtaking.
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Today, the tall narrow house on an Amsterdam canal is known worldwide as both a museum honoring the life of Anne Frank (1929-1945) and the Frank family's hiding place. But as previous collaborators Harding and Teckentrup (The House by the Lake) convey, the house is also part of a "remarkable history" that spans four centuries and myriad reasons for seeking shelter.
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Adding rich historical context to the story of Anne Frank, this chronicle of the Amsterdam house where she was hidden opens with an atmospheric marshland scene in 1580.
--Booklist

The sequential story is factually told but still has warmth and affection, and while the building itself is never anthropomorphized, the interplay between the physical space and the lives of its occupants has clear emotional stakes.
--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Readers don't need to be familiar with Anne's diary to appreciate the history of the house and its environs, but for those that are, this adds rich context.
--The Horn Book

What makes this book unique is its perspective of centering the story on the house and not just Frank, providing a greater context of those who lived--and hid--within its walls. Both beautifully crafted and deeply moving, the emphasis on the enduring history of a place and the roles in life experiences makes it a valuable resource for discussions on history, resilience, and memories.
--School Library Journal

Publisher: Bound to Stay Bound Books

Pub date: 2025-01-07

Length: 50 pages