Looking for a children’s book about people who live on same street. Each one of them breaks the mold of their boring houses and the end of the street is a collection of fantastical and amazing houses.
Each time someone changes their house, someone says, “He’s popped his top! He’s flipped his lid!”
That’s all I can remember other than loving the book.
I can think of a couple of books like that, although it’s been a long time since I read either, so I can’t remember the exact wording of the books.
Mr. Pine’s Purple House by Leonard Kessler – Every house on Mr. Pine’s street is plain white, so he paints his house purple so he can tell it apart from everyone else’s house. He ends up starting a trend of everyone painting their house in bright, unusual colors.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/193703.Mr_Pine_s_Purple_House
The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater – All of the houses on Mr. Plumbean’s street look alike and are neat and orderly, but one day, a seagull (for some reason) flies over Mr. Plumbean’s house and drops a can of orange paint, spattering a big orange splot on the house. When Mr. Plumbean repaints his house, he decides that he doesn’t want it to look like everyone else’s, and he gives it a fantastical design so he can live out his dreams. At first, his neighbors are irritated with him for breaking the “neat” pattern of their street, but when he explains how the house relates to his dreams, they are also inspired to redesign their own homes to be like their dreams. I think, in the end, there’s a castle house and a pirate ship-themed house, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Orange_Splot
I found videos on YouTube on people reading these books aloud, and the one with the lines that you remember is The Big Orange Splot.
This is absolutely “The Big Orange Splot.” Wonderful book!