Grandfather’s Journey


Title- Grandfather’s Journey 
Author/Retold- Allen Say
Illustrated by Allen Say 
Genre- Historical Fiction
Grade level- 3rd Grade-5th Grade
Awards- Caldecott Medal

The story begins with a young man from Japan. He dressed in European clothes on his way to America. When they finally landed, he explored the US. He liked California the most though. He went back to Japan, got married and brought her to America. They lived in San Francisco and had a girl. The man started to miss his homeland and all the encapsulated it. He took his family back to his homeland when the daughter grew up. Instead of living in the village, she lived in the city, was married and bore a son. The boy listened to his grandfather talk about California. The grandfather left, but when he was gone, bombs destroyed his village. The grandfather returned. The last time the the grandson saw the grandfather, he longed to see the US again, but he couldn’t. The grandson left for America too. He grew up there and had a family of his own. He then started to miss his homeland. He realized he’s just like his grandfather, whenever he’s in one country, he’s homesick of the other. 

This is an amazing story about immigration. It talks about the man’s love for two countries. That idealism was passed down to his grandchildren. You also get a glimpse of how different is one culture to the other. This is a great book to introduce ideas of citizenship and immigration in the classroom as a intro free write/discussion.


 

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