Before I Lived Here, written by Stacy S. Jensen and illustrated by Victo Ngai. Neal Porter Books, Holiday House. Penguin Random House. 2025. $25.99 ages 4 and up

"THIRTY YEARS AGO 

Before the neighborhood, 
planners and developers drew
shapes on paper like a treasure 
map showing where everything 
in the city should be."

The narrator is a young boy who lives in the present. From his house, he can see mountains in the distance. He explains that it has not always been this way. In fact, things looked very different in his city before his house was built there. Before that building boom (3 years ago), much was done to change the landscape to ready it for new houses, streets, homes and schools. His neighborhood became a reality. 

Thirty years earlier, plans had been drawn for the city that would emerge from the land that was there. Long before that time ranchers who owned the land had built housing for themselves and their workers. Further back, the Homestead Act of 1862 allowed settlers to work the land and build a life for their families. Prior to the settlers' arrival, the government had stolen the land from the Indigenous people who had lived there for thousands of years, living off the land that gave them so much. Before it was a prairie (66 million years ago), dinosaurs roamed that same land after leaving the oceans that had been their home until then. 

"ONE BILLION YEARS AGO 

Before the oceans, a mountain 
range burst through the earth, 
cracking and shaping the land 
around it."

Those are the mountains he can now see. 

An author's note explains that this is the story of her own community in Colorado. She encourages readers to do what they can to make discoveries about where they live, and how and when that came to be. I really like that she started from today and worked backwards to allow her young readers to think deeply about the changes that time brings and how it affects the people who have lived where they now live. Mixed-media images offer readers a clear look at the changes made throughout history. Important details invite discussion and careful observation for changes that happen over a long period of time.  

Back matter also includes a glossary of terms used, a resource list, and a list of works cited.