We Build Our Homes

We Build Our Homes is a beautifully illustrated picture book exploring the incredible structures built by animals and the reasons why they build them. Each spread looks at a different animal, told as though from their viewpoint.

A family of four builds a house, back, away from the road, down a dirt lane, in the middle of an old, weedy field.

A powerful blueprint for healing by building a home within yourself “A master class in self-actualization and compassion.” —Mari Andrew, New York Times bestselling author of Am I There Yet? In her debut book of inspiration, poet Najwa Zebian shares her revolutionary concept of home—the place of safety where you can embrace your vulnerability and discover your self-worth. It’s the place where your soul feels like it belongs, where you are loved for who you are. Too many of us build our homes in other people in other people, hoping that they will deem us worthy of being welcomed inside and then we feel abandoned and empty when those people leave. Building your home inside yourself begins here. Zebian shares her personal story for the first time, from leaving Lebanon at sixteen, to coming of age as a young Muslim woman in Canada, to building a new identity for herself as she learned to speak her truth. After the profound alien­ations she experienced, she learned to establish a stable foundation inside herself, an identity independent of cultural expectations and the influence of others. The powerful metaphor of home provides a structure for personal transformation as she shows you how to construct the following rooms: Self-Love, Forgiveness, Compassion, Clarity, Surrender, and The Dream Garden. With practical tools and prompts for self-understanding, she shows you how to build each room in your house, which form a firm basis for your self-worth, sense of belonging, and happiness. Written with her trademark power, candor, and warmth, Welcome Home is an answer to the pain we all experience when we don't feel at peace with ourselves. Every human deserves their own home. Welcome Home provides the life-changing tools for building that inner space of healing and solace.

Shows homeowners how to stay within one percent of their budget Delivers the perfect balance of information--covers everything homeowners need to know without overwhelming details Ready-to-use worksheets save time and money Tells homeowners who to meet with, when to meet, and how to track progress and control costs

The much-anticipated follow-up to the E. B. White Award-winning picture book If I Built a Car In If I Built a Car, imaginative Jack dreamed up a whimsical fantasy ride that could do just about anything. Now he's back and ready to build the house of his dreams, complete with a racetrack, flying room, and gigantic slide. Jack's limitless creativity and infectious enthusiasm will inspire budding young inventors to imagine their own fantastical designs. Chris Van Dusen's vibrant illustrations marry retro appeal with futuristic style as he, once again, gives readers a delightfully rhyming text that absolutely begs to be read aloud.

Self-Build Homes connects the burgeoning interdisciplinary research on self-build with commentary from leading international figures in the self-build and wider housing sector. Through their focus on community, dwelling, home and identity, the chapters explore the various meanings of self-build housing, encouraging new directions for discussions about self-building and calling for the recognition of the social dimensions of this process, from consideration of the structures, policies and practices that shape it, through to the lived experience of individuals and households.Divided into four parts – Discourse, Rationale, Meaning; Values, Lifestyles, Imaginaries; Community and Identity; and Perspectives from Practice – the volume comes at a time of renewed focus from policy managers and practitioners, as well as prospective builders themselves, on self-build as a means for producing homes that are more stylised, affordable and appropriate for the specific needs of households. It responds to recent advances in housing and planning policy, while also bringing this into conversation with interdisciplinary perspectives from across the social sciences on housing, home and homemaking. In this way, the book seeks to update understandings of self-build and to account for housing as a distinctly social process.

Pretty Good House provides a framework and set of guidelines for building or renovating a high-performance home that focus on its inhabitants and the environment--but keeps in mind that few people have pockets deep enough to achieve a "perfect" solution. The essential idea is for homeowners to work within their financial and practical constraints both to meet their own needs and do as much for the planet as possible. A Pretty Good House is: * A house that's as small as possible * Simple and durable, but also well designed * Insulated and air-sealed * Above all, it is affordable, healthy, responsible, and resilient.

The House That She Built is inspired by and dedicated to the REAL women behind the home built exclusively by a team of women in construction, skilled tradeswomen, and women-owned companies. The House That She Built educates young readers about the people and skills that go into building a home. One by one, children learn about the architect, framer, roofer and many more as they contribute their individual skills needed to complete the collective project -- a new home. With illustrations that connect and empower and words that build upon each other with each page, this book will leave all kids (she, he, and they) excited about their own skills and interested in learning new ones.

Built by Animals introduces us to the creatures who know how to build, and looks at how their techniques have been copied in human construction.

Provides information on tools, ropes, knots, ladders, and other equipment and supplies needed for building a tree house, and offers five basic designs that can be built.