Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

 

-from goodreads.com

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Say, Allen. 1993. GRANDFATHER’S JOURNEY. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-57035-2.

B. PLOT SUMMARY
A young Japanese man makes the great voyage to the new land of America. There he sees many wondrous sites and meets many different kinds of people. He returns to Japan to wed, but then longs to revisit America. Once he settles in California, his family grows, as well as his desire to see his homeland. He returns to Japan, where eventually his heart grows anxious for America once again, but the world war disrupts his plans. Although he could not revisit, his grandson will carry on his love for both Japan and America, as he travels back and forth between the two great lands. 

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDING CULTURAL MARKERS)

Say’s illustrations are beautiful!  His character drawings are so lifelike. Several of the drawings look like and feel like family portraits. The way he juxtaposes the long figure against majestic backdrops of scenery are very powerful. The contrast draws a connection between the land and the man. 

In the story, clothes are a cultural indicator.  Say gives a varied representation of how his characters dress. The clothes of the characters change significantly, depending on which country they are living in, but also the occasion or context of what they are doing in that country.  

There are also a few examples of architecture in the book that represent the differences in traditional structures of Japan and of the United States. Say includes both the urban and rural aspects of both countries.  He highlights modes of transportation, by including several different boats and a train, which I think represent progress and forward movement. 

He also includes the presence of war in Japan, and absolute destruction it wreaked on the land and its people. It disrupted his grandfather’s plans, and afterwards, he “never kept another songbird.” 

D. AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS

Caldecott Medal, 1994

Horn Book Guide Starred, March 1994: “The immigrant experience has rarely been so poignantly evoked as it is in this direct, lyrical narrative, accompanied by soft-toned watercolors.”

Kirkus Reviews Starred, 1993: “In lucid, graceful language, he chronicles these passages, reflecting his love of both countries--plus the expatriate's ever-present longing for home--in both simple text and exquisitely composed watercolors: scenes of his grandfather discovering his new country and returning with new appreciation to the old, and pensive portraits recalling family photos, including two evoking the war and its aftermath. Lovely, quiet--with a tenderness and warmth new to this fine illustrator's work.”

Publisher’s Weekly, August 1993: “The tranquility of the art and the powerfully controlled prose underscore the profundity of Say's themes, investing the final line with an abiding, aching pathos: ‘The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other.’''

E. CONNECTIONS
This poignant book about immigration and emigration would be lovely to read along with other picture books about similar experiences, like Watercress by Andrea Wang, The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco, With lots of Love by Jenny Torres Sanchez, and Tomatoes in my Lunchbox by Constantia Manoli.