Books like Grandfather's Journey
By Allen Say
For families who carry more than one culture, one language, or one home in their hearts, this book puts that quiet ache into words a child can hold onto. Reflective, tender, quietly aching — more a memory than a story.
A boy and his father fish before dawn at a Minneapolis pond, not for sport but for food, while stories of a different pond back in Vietnam quietly surface between casts.
A young girl emigrates from Taiwan to America with her family, leaving behind her beloved popo, and stays connected across the ocean through visits, calls, and memories as she grows up.
A boy travels north with his grandfather, Moshom, to see the trapline where Moshom grew up, asking again and again, "Is this your trapline?" as he imagines the life his grandfather once lived there.
A young boy travels before dawn with his family to Granny's farm for their annual reunion, where every child must find their own way to honor the family's history — but Lil Alan isn't sure what he'll bring.
After their father dies, six-year-old Marvel, her seven siblings, and their mother move into a run-down tar-paper shack deep in the Wisconsin woods and slowly turn it into a home.
A six-year-old boy spends his days in his grandfather Luis's towering garden, learning bird names, playful expressions, and reading and writing from a grandfather who never had schooling of his own.
A parent shares a string of tender wishes for a child — to find wonder in flying birds, to know love as vast and constant as the moon loves the sky.
A boy named Eli grows up on his grandparents' farm, learning to love the barn, the fields, and the river that surround him — then shares those same places with his baby sister, Sylvie.
A young boy visits his grandfather, but neither speaks the other's language, leaving them stuck in awkward silence — until they sit down together to draw, discovering a way to connect without words.
Twelve poems follow one family through a full year, from January sledding to July fireworks to autumn leaves underfoot, finding wonder in each month's particular light and weather.
A young boy spends his mornings with his Baba, his grandmother, tending her garden and eating together, until the day comes when he gets to care for her the way she's always cared for him.
A family leaves the comfortable, familiar house they love and moves somewhere new, discovering that home is really the people you share it with.
