The Journey [Paperback]

Sarah Stewart (Author), David Small (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

A new heroine to win readers' hearts, joining the ranks of Lydia Grace Finch and Elizabeth Brown

Sunday

Dear Diary

The luckiest girl on this good earth is writing to you tonight -- my birthday -- made perfect a few minutes ago by the present of a lace handkerchief. Mother had even hidden a tiny cake in her suitcase! I've never been higher than Aunt Clara's porch, or farther than Yooder's General Store, but this week my dream is coming true. I'm finally in a big city! And more, I've escaped the farm and chores! After spending the morning quietly in our room, Mother, her friend Maggie, and I went to the top of one of the tallest buildings in the world. How can I ever thank Aunt Clara for giving me her place on this trip? Well, I'm sure to find a gift for her by the end of the week. But for now, perhaps I'll dream of Aunt Clara and home.

Until tomorrow,
my silent friend,
good night.
Hannah

Beginning in the dark hours of morning, an Amish girl, along with two adult companions, sets off for the big city for the first time. The reader receives nightly reports through young Hannah's diary, in which, with tireless awe, she relates the significant events of the day. Each experience is decidedly new to Hannah -- a trip to the top of a skyscraper, a visit to the aquarium -- yet in each she finds some universal element that reminds her of home. Though she loves the city, a trip to the art museum on the final day of her visit clinches Hannah's longing for family and familiarity; fortunately, the bus is ready to take her back to the place she loves most.

Sarah Stewart's text has the authentic ring of a smart girl's private thoughts, and David Small's pictures are magnificent.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the creators of the Caldecott Honor book The Gardener comes a handsome story about a young Amish girl's first visit to a big city. Each night Hannah writes to a "silent friend" (her journal) about the thrilling sights in Chicago: "If I stacked our home, the barn, and my one-room schoolhouse on top of each other, they wouldn't even reach the fourth floor of one of those huge skyscrapers! The city has more of everything. More buildings. More cars and buses. More people--all kinds of people--with almost all the colors of a quilt in their different clothes and faces." Her exuberance is tempered only by her homesickness, which is beautifully portrayed in illustrator David Small's pictures of Hannah's rural home, alternating with the exciting, strangely parallel depictions of city life. In the illustration for the above journal entry, for example, readers see the gridwork of city streets, with blocky skyscrapers in the background. On the next two-page wordless spread, Small reveals a view through Hannah's mind's eye of the women of her community working together on a similarly gridlike patchwork quilt. Hannah is an appealing guide to the city; readers will be mesmerized by her unique perspectives. (Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

HAn Amish girl makes her first visit to a city (Chicago, in this case) in another graceful and understated work by the collaborators of the Caldecott Honor book, The Gardener. In daily entries, Hannah addresses her diary as "my silent friend," as she excitedly recounts the day's activities and compares them to life back home. Each reference inspires the illustration that appears on the succeeding wordless spread --a scene from her rural hometown. Like her heroine, Stewart wastes no words; a simplicity and economy inform the prose. Small effectively depicts the spare, serene Amish lifestyle and, using a more subdued palette and a simpler line than in his previous work, effectively underscores the sharp contrast between the two settings.In one particularly engaging juxtaposition, Hannah describes a visit to a store. "I was staring at some strange dresses when a saleswoman suddenly held one up to my shoulders," she writes, then wonders if, at home, her Aunt Clara has finished stitching Hannah's dress. The accompanying illustration shows a store clerk holding up a red and white polka-dot party dress in a glittering shop dominated by elegantly clad mannequins. A turn of the page reveals Hannah's recollection of standing barefoot in her aunt's stark sewing room, holding up a simple blue shift. Another strong visual segue concludes this exceptional title and brings home its themes: On her final day in the city, Hannah gazes at one of Monet's paintings of haystacks in a museum and admits in her journal "how much I've missed [Aunt Clara] and my pony and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa and my sisters and brothers." Strong likenesses of the haystacks appear on the following spread, as the bus carrying Hannah and her mother home passes by a dusk-shrouded field. (Observant youngsters may notice that in Small's aerial view of the family's home and barn, found on the endpapers, these two buildings bear a resemblance to those in the background of Monet's painting.) As affecting as the book's graphics, Hannah's candid journal entries, filled with a wide-eyed wonder of the city, spill over with a contagious enthusiasm ("I feel like happiness has rushed up and grabbed me from behind"). Her trip to the city only seems to deepen her appreciation for her family's way of life. Readers will feel as though they have made a fast friend in this likable young heroine. They will not easily forget her. All ages.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); First Edition edition (August 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374400105
• ISBN-13: 978-0374400101
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.7 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Religions > Fiction > Other
  • #24 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Multicultural Stories > Other
  • #49 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Where We Live > Country Life

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing life through new eyes, May 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Journey (Hardcover)

Hannah has traveled with her mother and her mother's friend Maggie to the city. For an Amish girl from a small community, the city is big and full of strange and wonderful things. They go to the top of hig buildings, to marvelous stores, to big parks, the aquarium, the atr museum,on a boat ride and into a grand church. While Hannah is enchanted and enthralled by all the new sites, each new site reminds her of things at home she loves. Written as diary entries by Hannah during her adventures, this book manages to capture the wonder of a young girl in a new enviroment, and her thankfulness for the simple ways at home. Once again Sarah Stewart has crafted a wonderful storyline and David Small has turned what is in the mind's eye into enchanting illustrations. A wonderful book to read aloud, and to be enjoyed by all ages.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful....., April 1, 2001

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Journey (Hardcover)

"Dear Diary, The luckiest girl on this good earth is writing to you tonight..." So begins The Journey, Sarah Stewart's lovely story of Hannah, an Amish girl on her first trip to Chicago. Each night, before she falls asleep, Hannah writes about her day and marvels at all the wonders of the big city, the fancy department store with it's frilly dresses, the aquarium and public library, the enormous cathedral with its loud choir, the cars and hundreds of people rushing here and there... And each makes her remember and appreciate something from her simple life at home, trying on a homespun dress, fishing in the pond, praying silently in the small wooden church, quilting with the ladies from other farms... David Small's expressive and detailed artwork take readers from the busy, brightly colored streets of Chicago, to the quiet, softer and subdued life of Hannah's Amish farm. Together, this award winning duo of Stewart and Small have authored a gentle, understated picture book, perfect for youngsters 6-10, that is sure to become a treasured classic in the years ahead.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ** TAKE A CROSS-CULTURAL TRIP WITH HANNAH **, October 12, 2004

By 

mcHaiku "nmi" (Brown County INDIANA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Journey (Hardcover)

Taking *The Journey* is like stepping out of a Time Machine as a northern Indiana Amish child is transported into the 21st century in Chicago. The team of Sarah Stewart and David Small produced this winner in 2001 and it's my opinion that only *The Friend* (see mcHAIKU's review dated October 3, 2004) has it 'bested'.

As Hannah becomes a time-traveler between two very different cultures, her level of excitement rises to test her well-schooled mannerliness. She is awe-struck and makes her discoveries seem new to us as we read over her shoulder the words written in her diary: "going down the street is like making a journey across the whole world. I feel like happiness has rushed up and grabbed me ..... "

There are only two small disappointments for me: I wish there were a situation in which Hannah was juxtaposed with a young city girl - - perhaps in that not-to-be-missed Chicago River boat ride - - somehow sharing an adventure which might suggest kinship despite their obvious differences. And, having recently written a review of *Berghoff's* ("The Berghoff Restaurant" of Chicago) I wish Hannah & her mother & friend had walked to that 100+ year old establishment to have a German meal - - where another comparison could be drawn. For me, the small black & white sketches of Hannah have a special appeal. Her facial expressions declare that she is a story-teller herself, and David Small makes obvious why he was selected by Caldecott judges.

This book is a delight to share, and can be a conversation-starter among children raised so differently from those of the Amish faith - - they may question how Hannah could be so eager to return home to the chores she has escaped for a week, and to a culture with gender-segregated religious services, and outhouses, and riding in an oh-so-slow buggy. When picture-book-age children aren't close by I reach out to adults or eleven-year olds & share the sweetness and strength of these words quietly enhanced by the dark blues of early morning and the jubilant sunrise. I will look for my favorite Monet-like haystacks the next time we travel north, too!

REVIEWER mcHAIKU is content that "the simple life" makes room for a love of books and hopes that Sarah Stewart & David Small continue their story-telling for many years.