The Couch in the Yard

Starred review from January 1, 2025
A rural family takes part in a nightly ritual. As the sky darkens, the family tinkers with a rusty old car. After securing the titular couch to the car's roof, they drive over "the gravelly roads... / up in the mountains, down by the hollow," to a field of old abandoned vehicles. With a little love and magic, their car takes flight over the open space, where they're bathed in the light of "a moon that is wondrous, / that will never break" and gaze at the fog, "which hugs the mountain like cozy bedsheets." After their nightly trek is complete, they return to their humble abode filled with love. Inspired by nightly drives with her family in Appalachian Ohio, Hoefler tenderly pays tribute to an area whose inhabitants are often misunderstood or looked down upon. Using a "House That Jack Built" format, she finds beauty in things many would overlook, like "the field with the school bus surrounded by sheep." Quotidian details mingle with the strange and surreal, with captivating results. With a shimmering, impressionistic flair, Seiferling's digital illustrations add texture to the deep blues and blacks of the nocturnal setting. Author's and illustrator's notes further emphasize the importance of finding meaning in the simple and everyday. Most of the family members are tan-skinned and present East Asian; one child is darker-skinned. A spellbinding love letter to rural America--and a reminder to look more closely at the world around us.(Picture book. 4-7)

COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 16, 2024
“This is a house in the hills up high,/ with a rusted old car in the sweet joe-pye” begins Hoefler (Courage Hats) in this cumulative rhyming story that’s, per an author’s note, rooted in family drives through Appalachian Ohio. Headed out for their nightly outing, a caregiver and three children, portrayed with various skin tones, get a rusted car in the yard running, tie the couch that also sits in the yard on top, and take off “past the field with the school bus surrounded by sheep,/ and the stormed-down oaks, and the old scrap heap.” A tire blows, but the car “lifts into flight,” traveling alongside others and carrying the family all the way to the moon. There, they snuggle together on the sofa, the beauty of Earth spread out before them. Via grasslike textures and soft illumination, digitally rendered spreads by Seiferling (Night Lunch) create a dreamlike ambiance for this atmospheric look at a family who sees magic and possibility poised in the ordinary: “Cars in the yard don’t ever die—/ they nest like birds and wait to fly.” Creators’ notes conclude. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Jackie Kaiser, Westwood Creative Artists.

March 1, 2025
Preschool-Grade 2 A rural family's evening exploits take a fantastical turn in a nostalgic tribute to simplicity. "This is a house in the hills up high, with a rusted old car in the sweet joe-pye," opens the story, its rhyming text initially set apart in creamy blank spaces. Soon, we see "the couch that sits in the yard" and "the folks with tools and a heart" who fix that broken-down car and tie the couch tightly to its roof for a joyous trip they take each night to the moon and back. Hoefler (Rabbit and the Motorbike, 2019) crafts careful text in a wondrous tone that follows a ""House That Jack Built"" cadence. The story seed, a note reveals, is rooted in the Ohio country drives Hoefler enjoyed with her family. Seiferling (The Language of Flowers, 2022) lends an appropriately dreamy quality to the Appalachian tale through moss and sepia-toned Photoshop landscapes and indistinct portraiture. A quiet and reverential nod to the value in items loved beyond a typical life expectancy, and to the transportive power of imagination.

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