Customer Reviews

Going Home (Trophy Picture Books)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is very touching...it sensitively portrays the sacrafices Mexican immigrants have to make to move to America for their children to have a better life. Very well done themes of parental love, long car trips, the sadness of leaving one's home country, sibling realtionships, husband and wife being romantic (tasteful and age-appropriate), and a child's growing understanding of the complexities of life. Buy and read it to every child (and adult) you know.

Eve Bunting takes her readers on journey with a Mexican family going home for Christmas. The text she uses is elegantly written. Through the feelings expressed by Carlos and his family you get a real sense of the Mexican culture and the importance of family. David Diaz's illustrations lead you into the journey with Carlos and his family. With the use of collaged background and inset illustrations the pages come alive. The text of Bunting and the illustrations of Diaz give you the sense of being there. This is a book that a child of any age would enjoy.

Eve Bunting's books have a wisdom that transcends their simple stories. As an ESL teacher and a teacher in classes with immigrant students, I have often shared this book with middle school students and adults. In a brief and poetic narrative, it tells the universal story of parents sacrificing so their children will have a better life, through the eyes of a child. The adults in my ESL classes love it and take it home to read to their children.

This story is well told, with a nice pace and sense of language. Diaz is up to his usual standards, creating a colorful world that you just want to hop right into. Judge this book by its cover - it's beautiful!

As a grandfather, I have been impressed with many of the books which Eve Bunting, working with a variety of illustrators, has created for children. "Going Home" is one of these. With good drawings, and a simple, touching story, it is appropriate for almost any age. Recommended.

An immigrant family is going back home to Mexico for Christmas. They originally left home so that they and their children would have greater opportunities. As the children watch their parent's excitement as they dance in the streets of their hometown, they realize that Mexico is part of who they and their parents are. Richly illustrated, the book features colorful drawings of the family as they travel and visit Mexico. Designed for first and second generation immigrants, the book shows the value of going home and the richness left behind.

The country where you were born rarely stops being home. Especially if you lived there for very long. This book highlights a family from the United States whose parents come from Mexico. The parents still feel very strongly that Mexico is home though they are firmly planted in the US. The kids are very uncomfortable with the knowledge. They prefer to speak English and feel that the US is home. What is this place their parents call home? What if they want to stay there? How do their parents really about about home in the US which the kids consider home? It's a confusing dilemma for kids and parents have to have mixed feelings too.

I am a third grade teacher, and I read Going Home by Eve Bunting to my class every year, just before they go on Christmas break. It is about a California migrant farmworking family journeying home to Mexico to celebrate Christmas with family there for the first time in many years, so their kids had no memories of the sweet little town they were born in. They learn two important lessons: This place is so important and loved by their parents because it is their true home. Their family is here. Their heart is here. And second: Their parents gave all this up, this place and life they love, to give their children opportunities--better education, better job opportunities. Eve Bunting does a brilliant job of giving migrant farm workers a face, a voice and a heart.

We talk about how all families make sacrifices for their kids and this is an important connection to make during the holidays when good things seem to fall from the sky. This book makes a huge point to children to be grateful for everything their parents do for them.

I suggest as a follow up book, December also by Eve Bunting, where a homeless mother and son receive a Christmas miracle, again, as a result of generosity of heart and sacrifice.

I ordered this book based on the author's name. I have several of her books and thought I'd try this one as well. I absolutely loved the story and the pictures. I teach ESOL to Kindergarten - 2nd grade students and have loved sharing this book with them.

The story will keep the attention of any child with the vivid illustrations of Diaz's technique