Grandfather's Journey

Using beautiful pictures and a spare writing style, Allen Say has captured what it means to live in two cultures at once. In Grandfather's Journey, a young boy remembers his grandfather's memories of Japan and America and his love for both countries. As a young boy in Japan, the grandfather is able to instill a yearning for travel and a desire to explore America. When the grandson is able to go to America, he comprehends even better the feelings of his grandfather.

I was immediately drawn to this book because of the beauty of its illustrations and the quality of craft demonstrated in its construction and the care given to its writing. I feel that this book deals with subjects that may be uncomfortable for light reading with children but show more that it still touches on genuine feelings that shouldn't be ignored or glossed over. I was entranced by the narrative and artistic combination and felt emotionally satisfied after reading it. My son liked the pictures of the boat on the sea and the train.

I think that this book could be used very effectively in our area because of the high number of children from elsewhere. A conversation could be started about where “home” is and what it means for each child, and that it's ok to feel homesick or to always have a place that you long for. A good way of helping young people relate to this story would also be to interview their grandparents or other older relatives and have them reminisce about their memories of “home.” show less

This is now one of my favorite picture books. Although simple the words are powerful and the illustrations are striking. Each page tells the story of one man’s journey to America and his love for seeing the world. Each picture is framed as if it is a picture of the adventure and the bittersweet feelings of eventually realizing that he missed home. It is astonishing to me how such an emotional story can be told in so few words. The ending is quite heartwarming as the author realizes that after his own journey in life he now feels as if he understands his grandfather

The immensely talented Allen Say won the Caldecott Medal for this beautiful picture-book tribute to his grandfather, and to the immigrant experience, and it is not difficult to see why! Using simple text and luminous artwork, he explores his grandfather's story: how he wanted to see the world, as a young man, and set out on a sea-voyage from his native Japan; how he ended up in the USA, and journeyed all over the country, eventually settling in California; how he found a bride in Japan, but raised his daughter in the states; how the family eventually returned to Japan, where the daughter married Allen Say's father; and how the grandfather longed, until his dying day, to see America one last time. Say concludes with a two page spread show more about his own experience living between two countries, an experience that has given him insight into his grandfather's life journey...

Grandfather's Journey, which I first read in 1993, the year it was released, and have just reread for The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme this month is "traveling," is a truly wonderful book, as emotionally powerful as it is aesthetically appealing. Say's artwork is always gorgeous - I love his use of light and shadow, and the different effects, whether gentle or harsh, that he achieves - and his story here is moving. There is all the simplicity of rightness here - everything works, in and of itself, and everything works together - making this a truly outstanding example of the picture-book genre. I finished it with a lump in my throat, as I always do. Highly recommended, to anyone who appreciates beautiful watercolor paintings, and to anyone looking for children's stories about family, and the experience of belonging to more than one culture and country. show less

Through pensive portraits and delicately faded art, Allen Say pays tribute to his grandfather's persistent longing for home that continues within Allen.

This restlessness and constant desire to be in two places speaks to a universal experience as well as the deeply personal ties of family to place, and what it means to be at home in more than one country.

A simply told but emotionally true account of a man's grandfather's process of changing homes repeatedly between Japan and America during times of big change, and how it feels to be between places.

The illustrations in this Caldecott winner are very well done and beautifully complement this melancholy tale of love and loss. Through the illustrations, the reader is able to join in the journey as Say's grandfather travels the world, as his mother marries and starts a family, and as Say himself follows in his grandfather's footsteps and moves across the Pacific to California. Perhaps the most beautiful thing about this book is that if one were to ignore the words and simply look at the pictures, one might mistake the illustration depicting what we, as readers, know to be Allen Say in California as simply being another image of the young man we were introduced to in the beginning of the book. The man standing before the palm trees, show more however, is that first young man's grandson, and although Say's grandfather never got the opportunity to return to California himself, this image subtly suggests that he was able to return in spirit with his grandson. show less

The message in this Caldecott winner captured the beautiful relationship that a grandfather and a grandson share regardless of time and space.The author told 2 lifetimes of stories that intertwined as one.
As a Mexican- American and future wife of a Moroccan man, I can relate to this story whole-heartedly. My fiancee gets these emotions when he is here in Oklahoma and then goes home to Morocco to visit family and vice versa. He wants to be here, but still misses the smells and noises of the streets in Casablanca and Sale, Morocco.
In the classroom, I would incorporate the familiarity with home, where it be, and other places in the world. Understanding emotions, sights, cultures, and what we would we miss. Multi-cultural diferences.