Read Along or Enhanced eBook: People in communities around the world live in homes suited to their environment and natural resources. From homes made of mud and straw to homes built on stilts, readers will discover that all homes serve the same purpose—to meet our basic need for shelter.

Cool Homes in Hot Places showcases real homes from the hottest territories around the world. Featuring a wide variety of environments and styles—from wilderness to hillside, from waterside to woodside, and from cultivated to streetside—this book shows how careful decisions around layout, materials, color, and furniture can create elegant yet functional and comfortable spaces in even the world's hottest climates. By designing each home holistically and taking into consideration all of the factors that impact the site—the occupants, region, climate, terrain, culture, and resources—Cool Homes in Hot Places will show any architect, interior designer, or homeowner the key to staying cool in any warm climate.

"Simple text and photographs present homes from many cultures"--Provided by publisher.

"Parents looking for a book about separation or divorce will find few offerings as positive, matter-of-fact, or child-centered as this one. . . . Simple, yet profoundly satisfying." – Booklist (starred review) At Mommy’s house, Alex has a soft chair. At Daddy’s house, Alex has a rocking chair. In each home, Alex also has a special bedroom and lots of friends to play with. But whether Alex is with Mommy or with Daddy, one thing always stays the same - Alex is loved. The gently reassuring text focuses on what is gained rather than what is lost when parents divorce, while the sensitive illustrations, depicting two unique homes in all their small details, firmly establish Alex’s place in both of them. Two Homes will help children - and parents - embrace even the most difficult of changes with an open and optimistic heart.

100 of the World's Best Houses features exciting contemporary houses from some of the greatest architects, including Hugh Newell Jacobsen (Buckwalter House), Daryl Jackson Architects (Jackson House), Glenn Murcutt (Southern Highlights House), Kisho Kurok

Simple text and illustrations present homes from different cultures.

Master of the cut and paste art technique, Giles Laroche takes readers on a storytelling journey around the world that celebrates the diversity of homes and the people who are shaped by them. Step into unique homes from around the world and discover the many fascinating ways in which people live and have lived. If you lived in the mountains of southern Spain, your bedroom might be carved out of a mountain. If you lived in a village in South Africa, the outside of your house might tell the story of your family. And if you lived in a floating green house in the Netherlands, you could rotate your house to watch both the sunrise and sunset. With intricate bas-relief collages, Giles Laroche uncovers the reason why each home was constructed the way in which it was, then lets us imagine what it would be like to live in homes so different from our own. Showing the tremendous variety of dwellings worldwide—log cabins, houses on stilts, cave dwellings, boathouses, and yurts—this book addresses why each house is build the way that it is. Reasons—such as blending into the landscape, confusing invaders, being able to travel with one's home, using whatever materials are at hand—are as varied as the homes themselves. List of Houses included: Dogtrot log house, based on dogtrots built in the southern U.S. Chalet, based on chalets built in the Austrian Alps. Pueblo, Taos, New Mexico Connected barn, based on connected barns common in northern New England. Cave dwelling, Guadix, Andalucia, Spain Palafitos (house on stilts), Chiloe Island, Chile Palazzo Dario, Venice, Italy Chateau La Brede, Bordeaux, France Tulou, Hangkeng village, Yongding, China Half-timbered houses, Miltenberg am Main, Germany Greek island village houses, Astipalaia Island, Greece Decorated houses of Ndebele, Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa Yurt, based on yurts in Mongolia and other parts of central Asia. Airstream trailer, USA Floating house, Middleburg, the Netherlands Tree house, USA