The High Street by Alice Melvin

Sally's in the High Street and this is what she needs ...

a yellow rose,

a garden hose,

a bunch of grapes,

some roller skates,

a cockatoo,

a tin kazoo,

a Persian rug,

a stripy jug,

a cherry tart,

a candy heart.

As you turn each page we see Sally enter each shop to make her purchases. Number one is a sweet shop; number two is a bakery; the china shop is number three; and there are antiques in number four. You can probably guess where she finds cockatoo, roller skates, grapes, and a hose but how will she find a yellow rose?

Each shop has a short rhyming text description and a fold out so readers can head inside each store. 

This shows the way the pages in this book fold open

There is something so deliciously old-fashioned about The High Street. ... From sweetshop to hardware shop, from antiques shop to greengrocer’s, for many children, looking inside these shops via the medium of this book will be a real discovery ... The High Street manages to convey the sense of wonder that a child would feel when entering these shops. The clever use of flaps allows to have first a view of the shop closed and as Sally enters, the young reader can open the flap and find himself stepping inside the shop too ... Library Mice

In 2007 you could even buy a little flat pack to go with The High Street:

From the author web page: A little girl called Sally travels down the titular High Street with a very eclectic shopping list. As she visits each shop the reader can open up the throw-out pages to reveal the life behind the shop front. I have always loved doll’s houses, and I think this book grew out of fond memories of opening up a tiny house to peep at the hidden world inside. I wanted to fill the book with details of the life both in and above the shops: the bustling café above the bakery; the band practicing in the music shop and the pigeon loft in the pet-shop roof. Now translated into nine different languages it's lovely to know that this book has been enjoyed around the world.

On social media I saw a post with a list of books that could be perfect for budding architects and this book The High Street caught my eye. Luckily for me I found it in a library this week. 

The post listed six titles - here are the other five: Georgian House Picture Book (Usborne); The House with the Little Red Door (Thames and Hudson); At Home in a Book (Penguin); Our House by Trudie Trewin (Scholastic); and Need a House call Ms Mouse.

Here are some other books I'd add to this list.:

A House that once was

If I built a house

The Hidden House

Boy oh boy I do wish I had discovered this book The High Street when it was published in 2011. I would most certainly have added it to my school library and possibly even gifted it to a friend or two AND I would have loved to put this book into the hands of a Kindergarten teacher to read alongside the Squeak Street series by Emily Rodda. This book would also be a fabulous read aloud to a preschool group. AND I now discover Alice Melvin is the illustrator of this book which I own and love:

Mouse's Wood

You could also pair The High Street with other stories about shopping lists with repeated refrains such as Shoes from Grandpa (Mem Fox); and Don't forget the bacon (Pat Hutchins).