Copyright Date:
2022
Edition Date:
2022
Release Date:
06/14/22
Illustrator:
Mohammed, Jenin,
Pages:
1 volume (unpaged)
ISBN:
Publisher: 1-546-01266-4 Perma-Bound: 0-8000-2945-3
ISBN 13:
Publisher: 978-1-546-01266-5 Perma-Bound: 978-0-8000-2945-6
Dewey:
E
LCCN:
2021050512
Dimensions:
24 cm
Language:
English
Reviews:
School Library Journal
(Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2022)
PreS-Gr 2 With bright vibrant patterns and dreamlike layering of drawings paired with poetic dialogue and narrative description, words and art set the scene for a mother and daughter bedtime story with a gentle dose of geography and genealogy. With hair braids with pink barrettes and green pajamas, an African American girl prepares to go to bed and spins a globe. She asks her mother, with natural hair in a headband and blue nightie, "Where shall we go?" and then visits her mother's hometown in South Africa. This question is repeated throughout as the daughter asks to visit different women of the family and their homes (rural and urban). There are roughly 30 words per spread paired with a drawing of the mother and daughter in real life and the daughter dreaming in vibrant clouds of the places the mother is describing to her: the daughter's birth in South Africa, her mother's childhood at her grandmother's house in Jamaica, and her great-grandmother's house in Zimbabwe. The book deftly handles geography, matrilineal heritage, and African American heritage under a guise of a spin of a globe and a bedtime story. VERDICT Purchase as a class read-aloud, for parents as a bedtime story, a class history introduction on geography, immigration, and the African diaspora.Vi Ha
Fall in love with this lyrically written and lushly illustrated exploration of identity and home that celebrates all the places and people who make us who we are.
"And where shall we go?" Mama asks as she tucks me in.
"South Africa. Where I was born."
My answer summons Mama's stories, stories that send us soaring back in time to when I was a baby. Out my window. Down my street. Across water. Across continents.
Where do you come from? Where does your family come from? For many children, the answers to these questions can transform a conversation into a journey around the globe.
In her first picture book, author Patrice Gopo illuminates how family stories help shape children, help form their identity, and help connect them with the broader world. Her lyrical language, paired with Jenin Mohammed's richly textured artwork, creates a beautiful, stirring portrait of a child's deep ties to cultures and communities beyond where she lays her head to sleep.
Ultimately, this story speaks a truth that all children need to hear: The places we come from are part of us, even if we can't always be near them. All the Places We Call Home is a quiet triumph that encourages an awakening to our own stories and to the stories of those around us.