In the Half Room by Carson Ellis

In the Half Room Reviews

• 
  Hilary

  In the Half Room features a half world, half a person on half a chair reading half a book with half a cat. When there is half a knock at the half door, the person meets their other half. Later the cat meets the other half too, the pictures of the two halves play fighting were amusing. I thought things would come together more at the end, but they didn’t, just the person became whole, the cat stayed in two halves. Although this didn’t reach a conclusion or seem make any point that I could pick up on I did enjoy it and the illustrations are lovely.
  
  Obviously it will have to be three and a half stars ;-)
• 
  Jae

  It half reminds me of Goodnight Moon.
• 
  Abigail

  Illustrator at large Carson Ellis, whose work has appeared in such publications as The New York Times and The New Yorker, who has received Grammy nominations for her album cover art, and whose previous picture-book,
  Du Iz Tak? was chosen as a Caldecott Honor Book in 2017, presents an appealingly surreal tale here. In the eponymous half room we have a half table, a half carpet, a half cat and a half girl. When the girl's other half comes knocking, she is made whole, but when the other side of the cat shows up, all is not so easily resolved...
  
  In the Half Room is the third of Ellis' own picture-books, although she has illustrated a number of examples of the form written by other authors, and it strikes me as being exactly the kind of conceptual, quirky book that she would produce. According to her brief note at the rear, it was inspired by a discussion with her son. The artwork itself is lovely, the concept intriguing. I wasn't sure how to interpret the ending - perhaps its symbolizes the conflicted nature of cats, or perhaps it simply depicts how they are always twisting themselves around in order to chase their own tales? - but that very ambiguity felt appropriate, given the story. As others have observed, this feels like an homage to classic picture-books like
  Goodnight Moon. Recommended to fans of Carson Ellis' artwork, and to picture-book readers who like quirky, open-ended bedtime books.
• 
  Michele Knott

  This one made no sense to me. If I'm missing something, let me know.
• 
  Beth

  This one went over my head 🤷🏼‍♀️
• 
  Panda Incognito

  For once, my unpopular opinion is that I actually like something more than other people do. Even though this book weirded out other reviewers, I found it fascinating, and enjoyed the surreal artwork and strange occurrences. Although I can see why someone might find this story creepy, I just found it fanciful and unexpected, and it's the kind of thing that will make impressions on small children that they carry well into adulthood.
• 
  Amanda

  Imagine if Goodnight Moon happened in a surreal time and place where half of a moon had the power to change how we see and experience things. Nothing will harm you there, but nothing is quite like it seems.
• 
  Sarah

  Sometimes you just need a kid’s book for a palate cleanser.✨
• 
  Chance Lee

  Half a review for this book, it's
• 
  Kim

  What was this?!?!
• 
  Amy!

  This book is weird! I don't get it!
  
  Aaaand I'm just seeing that it's by the same creator as
  Du Iz Tak?, and yeah, makes sense.
• 
  Karen Arendt

  Reminiscent of Good Night Moon. I love the kittens, too.
• 
  Jennifer McCallum

  Non-sensical and surreal, it made me chuckle when the cat begins to fight with itself, possible just due to the sheer madness of it. I would love to see children's responses to this book.
  The illustrations are beautiful and invite you into the world of half.
• 
  Jennifer

  This is was a delight to read.
• 
  M. Lauritano

  Not having been able to spend my typical amount of time perusing the shelves in this pandemic, when compiling a Christmas list of picture books, I had to ask myself, whose book would I want sight unseen? What author illustrator fits the bill better than Carson Ellis?
  
  This is an immaculately designed and illustrated book. Every visual choice feels so right to me, which some might find an odd evaluation for a story that is so surreal. If you are not the sort of person to accept and enjoy the concept of a world where everything exists in halves, In the Half Room is definitely not for you. For those who do not find themselves unsettled, there is a delight in exploring this space where halves balance as if they are complete and half cats sprawl oddly on half-rugs. I found myself occasionally testing the logic of the world. Would a half moon in a half moon phase be a quarter moon? Is one knock half a knock because no one really raps just once when they knock? The childlike logic especially shines when two half women become a whole, delineated by the word “SHOOOOOP.”
  
  As others have noted, Goodnight Moon seems to be a clear influence here. Just as in that seminal text a room (which, intended or otherwise, does seem to have an odd air about it) is explored through repetitive language before an ultimate goodnight. Objects (and eventually even noises) are given a kind of personhood as they are bid goodnight by the narrator. I would argue that Half Room tries something in a more roundabout abstract way. When we are confronted with two halves of a woman that reunite and two half cats that remain separate, the natural questions that might follow are: what does it mean to be whole? What does wholeness feel like in the times we experience it? Can one find wholeness when at odds with oneself? Is the appearance of being half of something, incompleteness, only a perceived illusion, like a half moon in the sky?
  
  I am reminded of Aristophanes’ notion that men and women were once one being, cut in two by Zeus and now destined to search for our other half. It might be that Ellis’ ending is a refutation of this type of idea. Platonic dialogues aside, In the Half Room presents us with a different kind of evening comfort, one that invites us to wonder and dream.
• 
  Michelle (FabBookReviews)

  
  
  Carson Ellis, acclaimed author and illustrator behind
  Du Iz Tak?, Home, and
  The Shortest Day (written by Susan Cooper) brings readers to an incredibly unusual, beautiful world with the picture book
  In the Half Room. At times reading like a playful take on Margaret Wise Brown’s classic Goodnight Moon, In the Half Room is a poetic get-ready-for-bed book- with a curve! In Ellis’s picture book, everything is in half: “Half chair/Half hat/two shoes, each half/Half table/Half cat/Half a window/Half a door/Half a rug on half a floor”. As “the light of the half moon shines down on the half room”, readers see half of an orange-haired girl with freckles quietly reading half of a book by half of the light from half of a lamp. Hmm. So curious! Why is everything in half? What is happening in this room? A glimpse at “half a moon in a half-moon phase” then brings quite a surprise to the door; a great big “SHOOOOOP” then brings something back together as a whole; and an unexpected feline tussle brings readers to ending wishes for a “Good night!”. The magic of In the Half Room’s story and artwork is arguably in the experience- how each reader and/or listener experiences, feels, and thinks about the story. By turns fantastical and outlandish, yet also cozy, dream-like and so much fun- and with a “SHOOOOOP” that might prove extremely entertaining to perform at storytime- In the Half Room is another winning flight of wonder from Carson Ellis.
  
  I received a copy of this title courtesy of Candlewick Press/Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and comments are my own.
• 
  Beverly

  Possible contender for the Mock Caldecott Awards in January. Ok, so I just don't get it...everything is shown at just a half...the door, the table, the cat, the lady of the house...the lady's other half does show up at the door and they rejoin but when the cat's other half shows up, they just tumble and play and fight and then fall asleep curled up next to each other. I think this would just be confusing for children.
• 
  Linda

  Inspired by his son, Carson Ellis creates a poetic story that challenges expectations of what "should be" and what happens when it isn't. "Half a knock" at the "half door" makes one quite curious as to who is behind that door. With only brief text, the ink and gouache illustrations tell the story. How is it to live in a "half-life"? etc. I'd love to discuss this with a group of students. Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy!
• 
  Abigail

  In The Half Room by Carson Ellis is a quirky, cute, story on explaining the phases of the moon. A child, who does not know the phases of the moon, might not understand why they only see half a moon, half a table or half a cat so this book is a great, simple explanation full of cute illustrations and rhymes.
  This is a surprisingly sophisticated book, a great bedtime story or book to read for elementary students.
• 
  Melissa the Librarian

  This book is weird and I don't get it, but I also really like it at the same time. The rhythm of the text is reminiscent of Goodnight Moon.
  
  UPDATE: I read this out loud to my coworker, and she said everything is in half because there's a half-moon's worth of light. I didn't get that when I read the book myself, but I think it's because I was too distracted by the cut-in-half illustrations.
• 
  Jessica Furtado

  I appreciate the layered meaning of this somewhat surreal and fanciful picture book. Children will be curious about the whimsical half room, while adults may take the message that we must go through phases of dark and light to find our full selves.
  
  It’s deceptively simple, but there’s more to discover upon rereading.
• 
  Thomas Bell

  Oh, my stupidness. I thought that there would be some moral as things start coming together, but nope - the book is completely pointless. The ending is utterly stupid. Maybe some kids would laugh at there being half-things, but then the illustrator should make them more cartoony.
  
  I reserve 1-stars for books that I would be better of had I not read them. This isn't there, but it's close.
• 
  Ethan & Isaac

  I halfway enjoyed this book. I think this book may be halfway finished because there is no resolution. Does the cat rear end and the cat front half coexist peacefully? Doubtful. Why does the human get reunited with its other half and leave the cat alone to face the problem by itself? I'm just not fully satisfied.
• 
  Rachel

  This book totally had Goodnight Moon vibes for me. I thought it was a unique tale and had lovely illustrations.
  
  I do wonder if it could freak kids out at all? The lady 'zippering' up into a whole person and the two halves of a cat are a bit 'out there'. I'm not meaning to say that in a bad way - I often like 'out there' - but I'm not sure little ones would enjoy it as much.