This article first appeared in the NY Journal of Books on 13 January 2024.

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“Home is where the heart is . . .

and my heart is here with you.”

So ends Emma Dodd’s latest picture book entitled Home Is Where the Heart Is, the13th volume in her well-known Love You series for children aged two to five.

The daughter of British designers Robert Dodd and Fay Hillier, Emma Dodd completed a Foundation Course in Art and Design at Tormead School, Kingston Polytechnic, and graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, with a degree in graphic design and illustration in 1992. Since then, she has worked extensively in advertising, editorial and book illustration. Since 2003, Dodd has published over 80 children’s books with Orchard Books, Templar Publishing, Penguin Books, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Scholastic Corporation, and Nosy Crow. She was nominated for the Booktrust Early Years Award in 2006 for her book What Pet to Get and in 2009 for Miaow said the Cow; and in 2010 her Amazing Baby series won the 2010 Booktrust Early Years Award for I Love My Mummy, written by author Giles Andreae. In 2010/11, Dodd was the 123rd most borrowed author from UK libraries across both adult and children's books.

First published as a hardback by Templar Publishing in July 2021 and released by Templar as a board book in December 2023, Home Is Where the Heart Is features a mother cat and her young kitten, who live in a house that clearly has human owners. The story uses simple and repetitive words to describe what “home” means to all of us, emphasizing the security that notion provides even when we are far away from our physical house and/or one another.

Home Is Where the Heart Is reads like a long greeting card, which may be just what parents are looking for when it’s time to put their young children to bed. The illustrations employ simple lines and patterns, often incorporating shiny gold designs and shapes that are sure to catch your child’s attention and attract their little fingers. It’s no wonder that Kirkus Reviews has described Emma Dodd’s art style as “just right for preschool audiences.” The board book facilitates holding by little hands; and its thick, durable pages are easy for young children to turn and examine.

If you like Home Is Where the Heart Is or Emma Dodd’s previous children’s picture books, be on the lookout for her 82nd release, Dream Big, on April 9, 2024.