# 32- Grandfather’s Journey (1993)

Grandfather’s Journey (1993)

Allen Say

Biography

Caldecott Medal

Allen Say’s Caldecott- award winning book provides a view across generations of the experience of a love for two worlds. The autobiographical story follows the life of Say’s grandfather starting at the point in his life where he leaves his homeland of Japan for the United States, “wearing western clothes for the first time.”

Say draws our attention to the clothing initially and uses attire to symbolize the constant transitions from one culture back to the other. Underneath a portrait of Say’s own mother, the text reads, “But the village was not a place for a daughter from San Francisco.” The illustration depicts this as well as the intergenerational conflicts, picturing an older woman dressed in traditional Japanese garb and Say’s mother in the foreground, wearing American clothing.

The mood of the story is related through light and shading and the formal layout of the pages of Say’s tribute to his grandfather. Watercolor illustrations are framed elegantly with a thin black border extend the narrative, offering sharply contrasting images and text that portray the displacement sometimes felt by the characters and the events of the story. On page 26, a tranquil image of a soldier figure contrasts with the words “Bombs fell from the sky and scattered our lives like leaves in a storm.” Some images stand alone, such as the origami boat representing the travel from country to country that appears in the endpages and on the back cover of the book.

Students will enjoy discussing the relationship between words and images in this elegant book. Immigrant children may identify with feelings of displacement as well as the love for both countries prevalent in “Grandfather’s Journey.” They may be inspired to write their own or their parents’ experiences with two worlds. It is also interesting to note the circular narrative structure as characters go between places they love.