Customer Reviews

Bigmama's

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Donald Crews departs from his usual simple text about such things as trucks and boats to share his childhood memories. The bold and colorful illustrations we usually find in his work are replaced by soft gentle colors and lines. Perhaps my endearment to this book stems from my own fond memories of riding the train back to my grandmother's home in Davenport, Iowa. Yet, there is more to this story than shared memories of days gone by. Even young children have memories of warm moments with someone special. As a first grade teacher I share this book with my students. It is a delight to see the special smiles that illuminate their faces, like the sweet smell of Spring, when they think of their special someone. For some children they think, like Crews, of grandma and her special cooking, for others their thoughts are of a visit to mom in a distant state. There thoughts are not meloncholy, like Crews, they are pleasant reminders of the treasures we find in each other.

This book is a departure from the style of Crews' "Freight Train", "Truck", "Harbor"- you get the pic (sorry, pun not intended). Just a slow, easy jaunt into a day in the life of country livin' in the late 40's (?). Tells the tale of the train trip to Bigmama's and what the family can look foward to spending their summer days there. Gives a description of the house and farm, with small, interesting details ("Maude was friendly, but Nancy was a biter"- the horses at Bigmama's). You can feel the excitement of the family as they all sit down to a meal together, then end the first day on the farm perfectly with a stargazing session, dreaming about their future days. The last lines always bring a lump to my throat (trite, but true) as I remember my summer days spent at my Nagymama's (Hungarian for "grandmother") small motel right outside of Wildwood, NJ, and how my world now is less simple. I am not sure if the illustration of the adult Mr. Crews on the last page is of him looking at the Newark skyline...just a thought, but I can not confirm it. There is even a small photo of Mr. Crews at age six at Bigmama's on the back flap of the dustjacket, and I like that little personal touch of history. Watercolor and gouache paints were used for the full-color art (Greenwillow states that, just in case you are an art freak). A book that captures the simple life and brings ya back to earth.

I cannot believe I am only just now learning about Donald Crews! I currently live in Los Angeles, but spent the majority of my life in Cottondale, Florida (and nearby Chipley and Marianna). It took having children for me to discover Donald Crews and his fantastic books! It's a wonderful blessing to be able to read to your children about rural life in the South, and I feel particularly lucky to be able to say the author understands firsthand. Thank you, Mr. Crews!

This just goes over "what we do when we first get to our grandmother's for summer vacation", reviewing it as a child would - first we hear the bad joke, then we go in the car, then we make sure everything's the same..."

Warm and loving, but not much story to it. If you want more story, get the companion book, "Shortcut".

Did you see her, did you see Big Mama.
When these children arrived at their grand mothers house right away they were going to have a good time. The cool thing about this book is he rights another that tells you how they got home from the lake. This book is called Short Cut. I recommend this book to someone who just likes to have a good time.