Goin' Someplace Special

Loved the storyline of this books remembering when I used to take my little ones to the Library on Saturday mornings for a fun time. And the Grandbabies when they came .Other things about the book bought back memories also.

Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee in the 1950s was not easy for African-American children. Most public places--including hotels, restaurants, churches, movie theaters, parks--were open only to whites. On buses, only seats in the back rows were available to them, even if the front of the bus was empty. But as the author explains in her endnote, the board of Nashville's public library in the late 1950s voted to fully integrate, and opened the main downtown branch fully to all. Like Andrew Carnegie, whose wealth helped to build it, her grandmother considered the library more exciting, interesting, informative than any place else. Her grandmother made it into a "doorway to freedom." This is a fictionalized story of the author's youth--an afternoon on which the main character, Tricia Ann, took a bus from home to downtown and the public library. She encountered much hatred en route, but she also met some love. She gave up her seat to a friend of her mother when the rear section was full. Mrs. Granell called after her, "Carry yo'self proud." Her friend Jimmy Lee instructed her, "Don't let those signs steal yo' happiness," and another gentleman at the Southland Hotel told her she resembled an angel from heaven. She also received encouragement from a kindly white gardener, Blooming Mary, to recall the lessons her deceased grandmother had taught her. Lots more happens here besides. In summation, a young woman is born. "You are somebody, a human being," her grandmother had said. The author shows that arriving to a place is not always easy. But quitting is not the route to take. Patricia McKissack's grandmother was right: Libraries give a special gift. Help your kids find out what and why with this book. --Alyssa A. Lappen

I've had a touch and go relationship with Jerry Pinkney's books over the years. He's one of those artists that I respect but that I've never really felt an undying affection for. His books tend to speak to the African-American experience but while I've always thought his pictures were effective I never became greatly attached to his stories. Author Patricia C. McKissack, however, won my heart with the splendid and multi-layered "Christmas In the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters". When combined with Mrs. McKissack, Jerry Pinkney suddenly becomes a lot more interesting. With their talents melded, the world has seen some breath-taking picture books. "Goin' Someplace Special" is probably the best of these. A smart book that introduces children to the notion of racism and Jim Crow laws, McKissack and Pinkney have given us a truly worthy book for our consideration. 'Tricia Ann is all ah-flutter. Her mother is finally letting her go all the way to Someplace Special. The trip is hardly carefree, though. After getting on the bus, 'Tricia Ann is forced to sit in the colored section. Then she can't even sit on a park bench, the words, "Whites Only" staring her in the face. Her friend Jimmy Lee commiserates, pointing out that even though blacks can work at the nearby restaurant, they can't sit down there to have a BLT and a cup of coffee. But the worst comes when 'Tricia Lee accidentally gets swept into a grand hotel. In the midst of an autograph signing the girl is loudly condemned and shooed out because she is black. In tears she finds a friend in an elderly churchgoer and becomes determined to finish her trip. The reader finally learns at the end that Someplace Special is none other than the public library. A place where all people are welcome. In her Author's Note at the back, McKissack tells how the Nashville Public Library in the 1950s voted to integrate their facilities. As a girl growing up in Tennessee, McKissack based 'Tricia Ann's experiences on her own. Through this tale, the reader comes to understand just how difficult it would have been for a young black girl to travel alone in a racially segregated city. Suddenly 'Tricia Ann seems a whole lot braver, and her trip across town a whole lot bigger. The text is, almost throughout, a constant calm narrative of big and small bigotries. I found myself wishing that the section in which 'Tricia Ann finds peace in the church courtyard was a bit less hokey. It's the single flaw in an otherwise perfect jewel of a book. As I mentioned before, previous Pinkney books have done little for me. And yet I loved what he chose to do with this book. Throughout the tale, 'Tricia Ann wears a memorable blue dress with yellow daisies. In almost every scene, other people are drab and colorless when compared to the bright sprightly girl and her eye catching outfit. Moreover, his protagonist's body language and posture often tell half the story in and of themselves. When 'Tricia Ann is being thrown out of the hotel sh

I grew up in a town some thirty miles east of Nashville and can very much relate to Tricia Ann and her desire to find that special place. As an African-American I recall the "Jim Crow" laws that forbade me from going to the downtown soda fountain, shopping in certain stores, and riding in the front of the bus. But, like the story's protagonist, the library was a haven,a place where, within the pages of a book, I could be what I wanted to be, I could do what I wanted to do, and I could go where I wanted to go. This is a powerful book that can be used as a marvelous teaching tool at school and at home.

I teach in a low socioeconomic neighborhood school and I struggle to find books for my African American 1st grade students that will help motivate them to aim high and value education. Usually books are too advanced and/or graphic in detail to interest or be appropriate for small children. Because elementary children do not really know of anything outside of current society, I think it is important that they see where we have come from. This book tastefully gives them a glimpse of black life in the past and the pride and determination that was necessary to rise above all that was wrong about those times. At the end of the story, "someplace special" is a pleasant surprise. It's a physical place that we can still go today, no matter what town you live in. This is a must read and must have for a multicultural or African American classroom library.

'Tricia Ann is going to her favorite spot..."Someplace Special", and today she's going all by herself for the very first time. As she skips out the door, her grandma, Mama Frances, calls after her, "And no matter what, hold yo' head up and act like you b'long to somebody." Wise words 'Tricia Ann will need as she faces the indignities and humiliation of the Jim Crow laws during the 1950s. She has to ride in the back of the bus, behind the Colored Section sign. Her grandfather was a stonemason on the beautiful fountain in the park, yet she can't sit and enjoy watching it, because the park benches are for whites only. She can't eat in Monroe's Restaurant, or enter the Southland Hotel's lobby, "No colored people are allowed!" And if she wants to see a movie, 'Tricia Ann has to use the back door, and sit upstairs in the "Buzzard's Roost" But there is one place she can go, her "Someplace Special", and it has a message she loves to read, chiseled in the stone across the front of the building...Public Library: All Are Welcome..... Drawing from her own life as a young girl in Nashville, Tennessee, Patricia McKissack has written a quiet, poignant, yet very powerful story, detailing and explaining what life was like for African Americans, during the Jim Crow era. Her simple and evocative text is complemented by award winning illustrator, Jerry Pinkney's beautifully expressive, watercolor artwork, and together, they transport readers back to the hurtful and unfair world of the 1950s segregated south. An Author's Note at the end, completes and enriches the story, and can be a starting point for further lessons and/or discussions. Perfect for youngsters 5 and older, Goin' Someplace Special is a thoughtful and engaging story of both injustice, and the triumph of the human spirit.