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Grandfather's Journey (Caldecott Medal Book)

Allen Say
How My Parents Learned to Eat (Sandpiper Houghton Mifflin books)

Ina R. Friedman

An American sailor courts a young Japanese woman and each tries, in secret, to learn the other's way of eating.
Emma's Rug

Allen Say

Emma is a gifted young artist whose most prized possession is a small, shaggy rug. When her mother accidentally puts the rug in the washing machine and destroys it, Emma is devastated and ceases her art.
Tea with Milk

Allen Say

At home in San Francisco, May speaks Japanese and the family eats rice and miso soup and drinks green tea. When she visits her friends' homes, she eats fried chicken and spaghetti. May plans someday to go to college and live in an apartment of her own. But when her family moves back to Japan, she soon feels lost and homesick for America. In Japan everyone calls her by her Japanese name, Masako. She has to wear kimonos and sit on the floor. Poor May is sure that she will never feel at home in this country. Eventually May is expected to marry and a matchmaker is hired. Outraged at the thought, May sets out to find her own way in the big city of Osaka. With elegant watercolors reminiscent of Grandfather's Journey, Allen Say has created a moving tribute to his parents and their path to discovering where home really is. The accompanying story of his mother and her journey as a young woman is heartfelt. Vividly portraying the graceful formality of Japan, Tea with Milk effectively captures th
Kamishibai Man

Allen Say

The Kamishibai man used to ride his bicycle into town where he would tell stories to the children and sell them candy, but gradually, fewer and fewer children came running at the sound of his clappers. They were all watching their new televisions instead. Finally, only one boy remained, and he had
no money for candy. Years later, the Kamishibai man and his wife made another batch of candy, and he pedaled into town to tell one more story—his own. When he comes out of the reverie of his memories, he looks around to see he is surrounded by familiar faces—the children he used to entertain have returned, all grown up and more eager than ever to listen to his delightful tales.

Using two very different yet remarkable styles of art, Allen Say tells a tale within a tale, transporting readers seamlessly to the Japan of his memories.
The Bicycle Man (Sandpiper)

Allen Say

The amazing tricks two American soldiers perform on a borrowed bicycle are a fitting finale for the school sports day festivities in a small village in occupied Japan.
The Boy of the Three-Year Nap (Caldecott Honor Books)

Dianne Snyder

Lazy Taro gets his comeuppance
Tree of Cranes

Allen Say

As a young Japanese boy recovers from a bad chill, his mother busily folds origami paper into delicate silver cranes in preparation for the boy's very first Christmas.
Under the Cherry Blossom Tree: An Old Japanese Tale

There were eggs in every bird's nest, the air buzzed with honeybees, and cherry trees blossomed all at once. The poor villagers forgot their cares and gathered in the meadow to sing and dance their time away. But their miserly landlord refused to be happy. Mumbling and grumbling, he sat all alone eating a bowl of cherries and glaring at the merry villagers. Then, quite by accident, he swallowed a cherry pit. The pit began to sprout, and soon the landlord was the wonder of the village—a cherry tree was growing out of the top of his head! What happened to the cherry tree and to the wicked landlord is a favorite joke in Japan. Allen Say tells the story with wit and vitality, and his beautiful drawings complement this classic Japanese tale.
Music for Alice

Allen Say

As a girl, Alice loved to dance, but the rhythms of her life offered little opportunity for a foxtrot, let alone a waltz. World War II erupted soon after she was married. Alice and her husband, along with many other Japanese Americans, were forced to leave their homes and report to assembly centers around the country. Undaunted, Alice and her husband learned to make the most of every circumstance, from their stall in the old stockyard in Portland to the decrepit farm in the Oregon desert, with its field of stones. Like a pair of skilled dancers, they sidestepped adversity to land gracefully amid golden opportunity. Together they turned a barren wasteland into a field of endless flowers. Such achievements did not come without effort and sacrifice, though, and Alice often thought her dancing days were long behind her. But as her story testifies, life is full of changes . . . In this striking book, Allen Say introduces readers to the remarkable story of the life of a woman whose perseverance and resilience serve as an inspirational reminder that dreams can be fulfilled, even when least expected.
Home of the Brave

Allen Say

In dreamlike sequences, a man symbolically confronts the trauma of his family's incarceration in the Japanese internment camps during World War II. This infamous event is made emotionally clear through his meeting a group of children all with strange name tags pinned to their coats. The man feels the helplessness of the children. Finally, desperately he releases the name tags like birds into the air to find their way home with the hope for a time when Americans will be seen as one people—not judged, mistrusted, or segregated because of their individual heritage. Sixty years after thousands of Japanese Americans were unjustly imprisoned, the cogent prose and haunting paintings of renowned author and illustrator Allen Say remind readers of a dark chapter in America's history.
Stranger in the Mirror

Allen Say

One morning eight-year-old Martin looks in the mirror and sees a stranger. Overnight, he has changed. His parents take him to one doctor after another, only to be told that there is nothing wrong with their son. At school his teacher asks, "What have we here, trick or treat?" His classmates will not play with him. At home his family tries to treat him as if he were the same child. But things now are different. Martin has grown very old in the space of one day. His world will never be the same again.
The Lost Lake

Allen Say

Luke and his father, who is disgusted by the tourists surrounding the once secluded lake of his childhood, hike deeper into the wilderness to find a "lost lake" of their own.
The Sign Painter

Allen Say

In his Caldecott acceptance speech for GRANDFATHER'S JOURNEY, Allen Say told of his difficulty in separating his dreams from reality. For him this separation was not as important as finding a meaning behind the contradictions and choices we all must make in life and their consequences.
Early one morning a boy comes into town, hungry, and looking for work. He meets a sign painter who takes him on as a helper. The boy yearns to be a painter. The man offers him security.
The two are commissioned to paint a series of billboards in the desert. Each billboard has one word, Arrowstar. They do not know its meaning. As they are about to paint the last sign, the boy looks up and sees in the distance a magnificent structure. Is it real? They go to find out.
Through a simple text and extraordinary paintings, the reader learns of the temptation of safe choices and the uncertainties of following a personal dream. Here Allen Say tells a haunting and provocative story of dreams and choices for readers of all ages.
Allison

Allen Say

When Allison tries on the red kimono her grandmother has sent her, she is suddenly aware that she resembles her favorite doll more than she does her mother and father. When her parents try to explain that she is adopted, her world becomes an uncomfortable place. She becomes angry and withdrawn. She wonders why she was given up, what her real name is, and whether other children have parents in faraway countries. Allison's doll becomes her only solace until she finds a stray cat in the garden and learns the true meaning of adoption and parental love.
The Ink-Keeper's Apprentice

Allen Say

Based on Allen Say's own boyhood in Japan, The Ink-Keeper's
Apprentice is a rich and remarkable novel. The story of a budding
artist and his steps toward self-reliance, Kiyoi's tale is also one of
the fragile beauty of human relationships— of family
loyalty, of friendship, and of the special bond between a mentor and
his student.
River Dream

Allen Say

A little boy takes a fantasy trip up the river by his house to fly-fish with his uncle.
El Chino

Allen Say

A true story of Billy Wong, the first Chinese bullfighter.
Grandfather's Journey. (award-winning picture book): An article from: The Horn Book Magazine

Allen Say

This digital document is an article from The Horn Book Magazine, published by Horn Book, Inc. on January 1, 1995. The length of the article is 833 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The story told in 'Grandfather's Journey,' the 1994 Boston Globe Horn Book Award winner in the picture book category, is based loosely on the actual experiences of a Japanese-American's seafaring ancestor. The story was pieced together out of such sources as old pictures and relative's tales.

Citation Details
Title: Grandfather's Journey. (award-winning picture book)
Author: Allen Say
Publication: The Horn Book Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 1995
Publisher: Horn Book, Inc.
Volume: v71 Issue: n1 Page: p30(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale
Siesta-De-Tres-Anos (Historias Para Dormir)

Dianne Snyder

A poor Japanese woman maneuvers events to change the lazy habits of her son. In Spanish.