Yolen, Jane. House, House. Photographs by the Howes Brothers & Jason Stemple. Marshall Cavendish, 1998. $15.95. Unpaginated. A 3-6 PB NF Reviewed by Lanell Rabner House, House provides an engaging snapshot of middle-class America, viewed through two different sets of camera lenses one hundred years apart. From 1882 to 1907 Alvah, Walter, and George Howes were in the view business. They traveled throughout New England, chronicling everyday life and the people who lived it. Hatfield, Massachusetts was one of the towns they visited, capturing on film the dozens of houses and the families who lived there. One hundred years later, Jason Stemple, a local Hatfield photographer and son of author Jane Yolen, has photographed the same houses and their current owners. This mother and son duo have aptly documented how things have changed over the past century. Yolen’s concise commentary on life then and now, coupled with the Howe and Stemple’s illuminating photographs, place the houses in their historical context, providing a delightful look at American life. Includes a list of books for further reading on this subject.
