Grandfather's Journey

Title: Grandfather's Journey

Author / Illistrator: Allen Say

Age Group: 3/4/5

Summary: This story is from the perspective of a boy who grandfather came to america from Japan. The story talks about the gradfathers departure from Japan, what he saw in America, His return to Japan, and then his longing to go back to America. The story ends with the boy discussing how he longed to move to America to see what his grandfather saw. Although he loved America,  the moment he got there he longed to go back to Japan.

     Grandfather's Journey is a lovely story about Japanese immigrants. The illistrations are breathtaking portralyls of what look like snapshots from a camera. The pictures give the story a feel of a scrap book that the boy is looking through while he is telling his grandfather's story. The illistrations, along with the text, give us a feeling of longing for something. We begin to feel that same way the grandfather feels. We want to go back to our childhood homes and visit our old friends once again. The story introduces the War which is a great thing to transition to in the class. I think I would use this story to start a conversation about immigration. We could talk about not only Japanese immigration, but all other types as well. This story could start discussion about why and how people immigrate from other countries and how we react to them.