Grandfather's Journey

Title: Grandfather's Journey

Author: Allen Say

Illustrator: Allen Say

Publisher & Publication Date: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993

Genre: Multicultural, Picture book, Historical fiction

Age Range: K-2

Summary: This lovely picture is about the life of a young man's grandfather. The young man is actually the author/illustrator. He tells the story of how his grandfather came to America and then became homesick for Japan, so he went back to visit. Throughout the story the man travels back and forth from Japan to America (California). It also talks briefly about the bombing from World War II.

Response: I think this was a great picture book. It tied in the life of a real person and real events that happened in history. The pages were single spread illustrations and they were numbered. The illustrations were paintings and I would guess he used only paint to produce the beautiful images. I think I read this story when I was younger, because it seemed familiar after I started reading it. It made me think of the stories my grandpa used to tell me about his experiences traveling. This was a touching, yet simple picture book. It can be used to introduce the Japanese culture and WWII. It is similar to Baseball Saved Us and the other chapter books we have read in the world literature for children class.

Teaching Ideas: Read this book before you read the books about the Japanese in the internment camps. This would be a great book to use as a opening to a Japanese unit. Read the story and then just have an open discussion with the class about things they might have heard of their grandparents. It could be an open story time for the students. After you have read this book go on into the history of the way the Japanese Americans were treated during WWII and use Baseball Saved Us to introduce that topic.