Synopses & Reviews
In this moving picture book from multi-award winning author Jacqueline Woodson, a young girl and her grandmother prepare for a very special day--the one day a month they get to visit the girl's father in prison. "Only on visiting day is there chicken frying in the kitchen at 6 a.m, and Grandma in her Sunday dress, humming soft and low." As the little girl and her grandmother get ready, her father, who adores her, is getting ready, too, and readers get to join the community of families who make the trip together, as well as the triumphant reunion between father and child, all told in Woodson's trademark lyrical style, and beautifully illusrtrated by James Ransome.
Review
"The illustrations have an attractive gravity and naturalness, and the prison scenes are impressively clear and sobering. It will be an educative and absorbing read for children lucky enough not to be sharing this experience and indispensable for those who are." and#151; The Observer (London)
Review
"This poignant picture book chronicles a joyfil girl narrator's hard-to-bear anticipation and special preparations for a journey with her grandmother to see her father.. . A shared feeling of hope and tenderness pervades each spread."--
Publishers Weekly "Woodson stays firmly planted in the perspective of a sentient young child who is comforted by the familiarity of her world."--Children's Literature
"The text is spare, gentle, and reassuring."--School Library Journal
Synopsis
When Mum tells Milly that Dad has been sent to prison, Milly feels angry and confused. She can't believe her dad won't be at home to read her stories and make her laugh.
But soon Mum takes Milly and her brother Sam to visit Dad in prison, and a week later a special package arrives at home - a cd of Milly's favourite animal stories, read especially for her by Dad. At Christmas the family go to a party at the prison, and in the spring there's an even better surprise for Milly and Samand#133;
About the Author
Jacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, the recipient of three Newbery Honors for After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers and Show Way, and a two-time finalist for the National Book Award for Locomotion and Hush. Other awards include the Coretta Scott King Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Miracle's Boys. Her most recent books are the autobiographical Brown Girl Dreaming and her picture books Each Kindness and This Is the Rope. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.