Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia C. McKissack

Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack and Jerry Pinkney
Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack and Jerry Pinkney

today’s children storybook summary is

Goin’ Someplace Special

By Patricia C. McKissack

Illustration by Jerry Pinkney

Storyline: Mama Frances is in the kitchen, preparing vegetables for cooking when ‘Tricia Ann asks her if she can go Someplace Special all by herself. She’s all dressed up in a nice blue dress with a yellow ribbon, a hat, and a hand purse. ‘Tricia Ann is about 12 years old but as her grandmother, Mama Frances, says, “goin’ off alone is a mighty big step”. But the girl knows the way and she convinces her grandmother that she’s ready for it. Waving good bye, she takes off to Someplace Special.

The journey proves to be an eye opener for young ‘Tricia Ann and a lesson she’ll never forget. Even if she travels known places through well-known routes, the things she sees seem new to her. From the first step on the bus she had taken with her grandma so many time where she has to sit on the back, through the park where her grandpa worked a lifetime where the benches are for “whites only”, and through a hotel lobby where, after she’d been accidentally swept in by a mob following a celebrity, she is told to leave, ‘Tricia Ann encounters the Jim Crow laws. The signs are everywhere, as well as the people attitudes. When she protests or opposes them as unfair, she is reminded that this is the way things are. Even white children of her age are discriminating. But ‘Tricia Ann is keeping herself proud, as grandma had told her. One by one, she overcomes all these obstacles because she really wants to go Someplace Special. And when she finally arrives there, she is happy. She sees a big building in front of her and she looks up at the message chiseled in big letters on the front of it. It says “Public Library: All are welcome.”

Characters: ‘Tricia Ann, Mama Frances, Mrs. Grannell, Jimmy Lee, Mr. John Willis, Blooming Mary, Hickey.

Illustration: Jerry Pinkney is the illustrator of this book. He is a well-known illustrator of over one hundred children books, with five Caldecott Medals, five Coretta Scott King awards and numerous NYT bestsellers hits and awards. His style reflects a certain gentleness, a warm environment by colors and realistic drawings, with soft edges and grace. His scenes enhance the text and bring on subtitle details. Most notable for me were the attitudes of the people portrayed in the pages of the book, their unspoken words, their feelings.  The illustration fills the pages with wonderful, earth like colors and animated characters.

Recommended Age: 4 to 8

Reading Time: 13 minutes

Medal/Awards: Winner of the Coretta Scott King award

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