Module 5 Goin' Someplace Special

Bibliographic Citation

McKissack, P. (2001). Goin' someplace special. New York:  Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Summary

Tricia Ann was all excited to go someplace special by herself for the first time.  Her excitement dwindered as she had to sit on the colored section of the bus, couldn't sit on the park bench, and couldn't go in the restaurant or hotel.  Finally Blooming Mary helped her to remember her grandmother's words about determination and holding her head high.  She made it to her Someplace Special which turned out to be the library which was where everyone was welcomed. 

Impressions

I thought this was an excellent book to read to children to help them understand about how it felt during Martin Luther King's time of growing up.  Many children do not understand discrimination and exactly what Martin Luther King was fighting for.  Since it was written from the view of a child I think it will lead them to a greater inderstanding.

Suggestion For Use in a Library

1.  Good introduction book on first day for emphasing that the library is a special place for everyone.

2.  Good to use during Black History Month.

3.  Write how you might have felt if you were not allowed to go to a restaurant, playground, or school.

Reviews

Follow ’Tricia Ann on her poignant journey in Coretta Scott King Book Award winner for excellence in illustration. Mama Frances empowers her granddaughter ’Tricia Ann to triumph over deep

prejudice in the 1950s segregated South. ’Tricia Ann travels with perseverance on her first solo trip through Nashville to a uniquely liberating “Someplace Special,” the public library. The recollection of Mama Frances’s model of confidence, respect, and steadfastness keep ’Tricia Ann walking on to her final destination. As a parenting grandparent, Mama Frances equips ’Tricia Ann for the reality of the world with the strength of independent learning and autonomous thinking. “Those signs can tell us where to sit, but they can’t tell us what to think,” she tells her granddaughter. Watercolor and pencil illustrations capture ’Tricia Ann’s big steps in the world, which the author notes, parallel events of her own childhood. This book has also been recognized as an ALA Notable Book and received a Parents’ Choice Award. Ages 4–8.

Leonette, C. (2009). Goin' someplace special. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 7(2), 350.

'Tricia Ann is ready to go "Someplace Special" by herself for the first time. But it is the 1950s in a southern town, and 'Tricia Ann still has to sit in the back of the bus. A series of situations confront her as she travels on her way, including seeing a "Whites Only" sign on the park bench and getting shooed out of a hotel lobby. She begins to cry about the unfairness of the Jim Crow laws when she hears her grandmother's advice in her head, "You are somebody, a human being-no better, no worse than anybody else in this world." 'Tricia Ann holds her head up high and heads to "Someplace Special"-the library where all are welcome.

 Scharer, P., Armstrong, K., Bushner, D.,  Pavonetti, L., & et al. (2003). Goin' someplace special. Language Arts, 80(4), 314. 

'Tricia Ann-an African-American preteen-feels she's ready to go across town all by herself, but Mama Frances knows that her granddaughter's journey through 1950s Nashville is likely to challenge 'Tricia Ann's moral compass as much as her navigational ability. However, she lets the girl go with one last reminder-"hold yo' head up and act like you b'long to somebody"-and with that 'Tricia Ann skips out of the idealized verdure of Jerry Pinkney's impressionistic landscape into the sober reality of back-of-the-bus seating and whites-only park benches. The reader follows her turquoise yellow-flowered dress all the way to the mysterious "Someplace Special," the increasing drabness of the people and surroundings thrown into relief by 'Tricia Ann's vitality. The expressive narration and soft-focus illustrations of this forthrightly purposive picture book sometimes become oversweet, but there is a solid core of experiential detail in both the pencil sketches that underpin Pinkney's watercolors and the social (and personal) history that undergirds McKissack's story. And you'll be especially glad to know that 'Tricia Ann's "favorite spot in the world" turns out to be ... the public library, which a brief afterword by McKissack says "was one of the few places where there were no Jim Crow signs and blacks were treated with some respect." While a little lengthy for the youngest listeners, this shows the pervasiveness of segregation and celebrates the strength of mind of those who said to African-American children, "Don't let those signs steal yo' happiness."

Fern K. (2001). Goin' someplace special. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 55(1), 28.