Two Titles for Future Green Builders

Green Dollhouse: Creating a Doll’s Eye View of a Healthier WorldEcotone Publishing Company, Kansas City, Missouri, 2005. Softcover, 72 pages, $19.95.

Wonderful Houses Around the Worldby Yoshio Komatsu, Shelter Publications, Bolinas, California, 2004. Flexcover or softcover, 48 pages, $14.95/$8.95.

Green Dollhouse documents the results of the Green Dollhouse Project, a design competition sponsored by San Mateo County in California in 2004 (see EBN

Vol. 14, No. 5). That competition sought “dishy doll dwellings” that offered “great green guidance,” and it got them in the form of entries from as far away as Japan. The book features photos and descriptions of all the winning entries, accompanied by “fun facts” that put the dollhouse designs in a global context. It also has instructions and tips for building one’s own doll dwelling.

My seven-year-old daughter loves dollhouses, and this book got her attention. She wouldn’t put it down until she had studied all the designs, and she hasn’t stopped planning her own dollhouse since. The dollhouses featured represent a broad range of sustainable design solutions, making this a rich textbook for all ages.

Wonderful Houses Around the World is the children’s version of Komatsu’s amazing book Built by Hand (see sidebar “Finding Out More” in the article “The Natural Building Movement” in EBN

Vol. 14, No. 5). Wonderful Houses features beautiful photographs and full-color, detailed illustrations of indigenous dwellings, and the people who live in them, from ten countries. The text is written for young children (ages four to eight, according to the publisher). It’s hard to imagine a better introduction to the variety of traditional house styles, and the quality of the photos ensures that adults won’t tire of looking through this book either. (If you’re buying for an adult, however, spend a little more and get Built by Hand—you won’t regret it.)

– NM