Reissue of Skorpen’s book for children as fun today as it was 30 years ago

WE WERE TIRED OF LIVING IN A HOUSE, written by Liesel Moak Skorpen, illustrated by Joe Cepeda, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1969 and 1999, 32 pages, hardcover, $15.99.

Ursula Hawkes jogged into the Briar Patch in the middle of leading a Cub Scout hike to buy a copy of “We Were Tired of Living in a House” and have author Liesel Moak Skorpen sign it. “It was my favorite book when I was little. I really wanted to read it to my son” Eric, 8.

She was not alone. Nearly all the parents who attended the reading and signing loved the book as children and were thrilled to see it reissued in time for them to share it with their own sons and daughters.

It’s easy to see why. In this story, first published in 1969, three adventurous children decide they are tired of living in a house. Unlike real-life youngsters, they are able to move out and dwell in a novel series of residences — a tree, a raft on a pond, a cave, and the seashore — before returning to home and parents.

It is a book for families to share. The whimsical, colorful illustrations will delight parents and children. And the poetic language begs to be read aloud: “We built a raft and floated about/among the reeds and lily pads./ Below fish darted, dragonflies above./ And pond frogs sang with us on summer nights.” I can tell you from personal experience it is as charming on the 36th reading as on the first.

We are truly fortunate to have Skorpen, a Bucksport resident, and her writing in Maine. In 1936, when she and her brother were toddlers, she was living in Nazi Germany. Her father was arrested by the Gestapo and released in time to take a boat to America with his family. “People who understood the situation in Europe knew what would happen. My father was one of them.”

Some of Skorpen’s most precious childhood memories are of being read to by her mother. This legacy has inspired her to write stories both parents and children can appreciate. She considers the time families spend absorbed in books to not only enhance a love of reading, but to allow for a playful style of communication too often absent in parenting. “We tell them what to do, what not to do. We teach them things. We rarely sit down and laugh together.”

Writing was not Skorpen’s first career choice. She was studying at Yale when she met her future husband. Within two years she was married and a mother. She did not get her Ph.D. Fortunately for us, “I also discovered that teaching philosophy was not what I wanted to do.”

Skorpen’s vocation was inspired by her desire to have an identity other than as a mother of six. She staked out her writing time assertively. “I’d lock myself in my bedroom and tell my children they couldn’t come in unless they were bleeding.”

Skorpen has advice for other at-home parents seeking to expand their horizons. “Find out what you love and then find ways — small ways — to do it. It has to come from your heart. Most of us don’t do this. We learn to love what we can get approval for.”

Skorpen has communicated with and is deeply grateful to many people who loved “We Were Tired of Living in a House” as children and now treasure it as parents. “This makes me feel wonderful. Usually you know how many copies of a book have been sold. But you have no way of knowing if people really loved it and cared about it the way children love books. They don’t decide what their favorites are to impress someone. When a child loves a book it is a pure love.”