Goin' Someplace Special [Hardcover]

Patricia C. McKissack (Author), Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner

There's a place in this 1950s southern town where all are welcome, no matter what their skin color...and 'Tricia Ann knows exactly how to get there. To her, it's someplace special and she's bursting to go by herself.

When her grandmother sees that she's ready to take such a big step, 'Tricia Ann hurries to catch the bus heading downtown. But unlike the white passengers, she must sit in the back behind the Jim Crow sign and wonder why life's so unfair.

Still, for each hurtful sign seen and painful comment heard, there's a friend around the corner reminding 'Tricia Ann that she's not alone. And even her grandmother's words -- "You are somedbody, a human being -- no better, no worse than anybody else in this world" -- echo in her head, lifting her spirits and pushing her forward.

Patricia C. McKissack's poignant story of growing up in the segregated South and Jerry Pinkney's rich, detailed watercolors lead readers to the doorway of freedom.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Confronted with the indignities and humiliations of segregated Nashville in the 1950s, young 'Tricia Ann holds her head high and remembers that she is "somebody, a human being--no better, no worse than anybody else in this world." For the first time, 'Tricia Ann has been allowed to venture outside her community all by herself. Her grandmother has prepared her well, fortifying her "with enough love, respect, and pride to overcome any situation." 'Tricia Ann, though frustrated by the Jim Crow laws that forbid her, as an African American, to enter certain restaurants and hotels, or even to sit on park benches marked "For Whites Only," rises above her pain and makes her way to one of the only places in the city that welcomes her with open arms: the public library.

Drawing on her own Nashville childhood, Newbery Honor-winning author Patricia C. McKissack (The Dark- Thirty) brings the injustices of segregation to life in this bittersweet picture book. Illustrator Jerry Pinkney, four-time Coretta Scott King Award winner and four-time Caldecott Honor Medalist, captures the spirit of the '50s with his lovely watercolors. McKissack and Pinkney previously collaborated on Mirandy and Brother Wind. (Ages 3 to 7) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

McKissack draws from her childhood in Nashville for this instructive picture book. "I don't know if I'm ready to turn you loose in the world," Mama Frances tells her granddaughter when she asks if she can go by herself to "Someplace Special" (the destination remains unidentified until the end of the story). 'Tricia Ann does obtain permission, and begins a bittersweet journey downtown, her pride battered by the indignities of Jim Crow laws. She's ejected from a hotel lobby and snubbed as she walks by a movie theater ("Colored people can't come in the front door," she hears a girl explaining to her brother. "They got to go 'round back and sit up in the Buzzard's Roost"). She almost gives up, but, buoyed by the encouragement of adult acquaintances ("Carry yo'self proud," one of her grandmother's friends tells her from the Colored section on the bus), she finally arrives at Someplace Special a place Mama Frances calls "a doorway to freedom" the public library. An afterword explains McKissack's connection to the tale, and by putting such a personal face on segregation she makes its injustices painfully real for her audience. Pinkney's (previously paired with McKissack for Mirandy and Brother Wind) luminescent watercolors evoke the '50s, from fashions to finned cars, and he captures every ounce of 'Tricia Ann's eagerness, humiliation and quiet triumph at the end. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers; 1st edition (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689818858
• ISBN-13: 978-0689818851
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #354,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for My 1st Graders, March 28, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Goin' Someplace Special (Hardcover)

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.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful Story....., December 12, 2001

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goin' Someplace Special (Hardcover)

'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.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Special, in the best sense of the word, July 13, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Goin' Someplace Special (Hardcover)

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 she clasps on wrist in another. Her expression is part shock, part amazement. The fact that anyone could be so crude and cruel as to throw a girl out merely for her skin color.... Kids reading this section will sympathize.

This is by no means the first McKissack/Pinkney pairing ("Mirandy and Brother Wind" has that particular honor), but I hope it isn't the last. The book is an entirely respectful and creative way of introducing the notion of racism to small children. Kids might not immediately understand the importance of Brown vs. the Board of Education but a book like this will make that time period a little more real to them. It's an original story with great text and illustrations. I think you?ll be pleased with its presentation.