Jemma's Journey

In the story Jemmas' Journey-an extended family is shown all together at the dinner table,listening to grandma's stories.This image illustrates the realistic truth in many families of color...An extended family(with more than one generation living together)is a family with lots of living history. Jemma is very interested in grandmas' sad story of a racist violent reaction to a couple of men of color who try to vote.Her memory of one the men hanging from a tree was,and is,a horrific piece of history for all americans.Jemma tries to pay homage to grandma and her memories by planting a tree in honor of the man who died.She buys a bus ticket and when her parents can't find her,they send a policeman to find her-the officer listens to Jemmas' story and ends up helping her plant the tree.The story introduces us to many people along Jemma's Journey who have interesting analogies about the tree and life.Children of color grow up with stories of racist acts and memories.Jemma reminds us that new generations CAN respect and remember the people in our history even if it isn't easy to do so. This is an important book that will help children to see that they CAN MAKE their own history and make a difference.