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lattelibrarian's review
4.0
I am in love with all books that feature E.B. Lewis' illustrations, and this is no different. This book is just so beautiful both in narrative and art, and I think it should definitely be on your reading list if you have yet to read it. It's calm, peaceful, patient, hopeful. Just reading this made me feel a little more confident that everything will work out alright.
Review cross-listed here!
Review cross-listed here!
crystal_reading's review
5.0
This is a beautiful story of a young girl waiting for her mother to come home. Her mother has gone to Chicago to work. It's a quiet and simple book. I loved the warmth of the family love.
mjfmjfmjf's review
3.0
A modern Caldecott Honor picture book. Reading old and new Caldecotts intertwined continues to be an interesting way to see how the world has changed. In this one the writing is relatively simple but not boring. And the production values on the art and paper and binding is high. The picture is a small one and almost timeless except for being set in a rural household at a time of war, perhaps WWII. There is just a little bit of something missing from this one, not quite sure what. But rural scenes don't usually resonate for me. In any case, good enough. 3.5 of 5.
ueberghost_'s review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
zoes_human's review
emotional
4.0
Beautiful art and a sad but hopeful story. An excellent book for children who are missing a parent, or parents, for whatever reasons may be.
backonthealex's review
4.0
When Ada Ruth's Mama decides to go to Chicago to earn some money to send home, Ada Ruth must stay home with her Grandma. Yet as the days pass, and no letter or money comes from Chicago, Ada Ruth misses her Mama more and more. But Grandma reassures her that Mama with be coming on home soon and to just keep writing to her.
When Ada Ruth finds a kitten at the door one cold snowy morning, Grandma tells her she can't keep it, there isn't enough food for themselves with the war going on. let alone a kitten. But she lets Ada Ruth give her some milk anyway.
After a while, with no word from Mama, even Grandma feels like crying.
Day after day, Ada Ruth and her Grandma go about their lives, listening to the war news on the radio, hunting for food in the woods behind the house, always followed by the kitten, and missing Mama and hoping for a letter.
Until, finally, one comes. And sure enough, there's money and the news that Mama will really be coming on home soon.
In this gentle, yet powerful story Jacquelline Woodson has poignantly captured the fear, the worry and the loneliness of a young girl left behind when her mother must leave home for a job, a not uncommon occurrence in WWII. The story is set in the middle of a very cold winter, metaphorically expressing the warmth that Ada Ruth associates with her mother and which is now missing from their home. But, the soft warm of the kitten keeps the memory of her mother's warmth alive for Ada Ruth. Their anticipated renion ends the story on a happy, hopeful note.
The text is completely supported by the realistic watercolor illustrations by E.B. Lewis, that are so expressive of the time and place that this story. I loved Ada Ruth's saddle shoes, so popular at the time. And the color palette used, in rich tones of browns, blues and icy whites, also reflects the sense of country living in the dead of winter.
Woodson has subtly given us a glimpse of one of the ways that the war effected the lives of African American woman and children on the home front in this story. Ada Ruth's experience of the war was, unfortunately, not uncommon. When men went to fight in WWII, it created a shortage of workers and opened opportunities for women to take over their jobs and earn better money than they normally would have been paid. Here, Ada Ruth's Mama went to Chicago and worked for the railroad, washing train cars. Pullman in Chicago had begun to hire black men in the 1930s, but by 1944, as the war went on, the company faced a shortage of workers and began to hire black woman as well.
This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL
This review was originally posted at The Children's War
When Ada Ruth finds a kitten at the door one cold snowy morning, Grandma tells her she can't keep it, there isn't enough food for themselves with the war going on. let alone a kitten. But she lets Ada Ruth give her some milk anyway.
After a while, with no word from Mama, even Grandma feels like crying.
Day after day, Ada Ruth and her Grandma go about their lives, listening to the war news on the radio, hunting for food in the woods behind the house, always followed by the kitten, and missing Mama and hoping for a letter.
Until, finally, one comes. And sure enough, there's money and the news that Mama will really be coming on home soon.
In this gentle, yet powerful story Jacquelline Woodson has poignantly captured the fear, the worry and the loneliness of a young girl left behind when her mother must leave home for a job, a not uncommon occurrence in WWII. The story is set in the middle of a very cold winter, metaphorically expressing the warmth that Ada Ruth associates with her mother and which is now missing from their home. But, the soft warm of the kitten keeps the memory of her mother's warmth alive for Ada Ruth. Their anticipated renion ends the story on a happy, hopeful note.
The text is completely supported by the realistic watercolor illustrations by E.B. Lewis, that are so expressive of the time and place that this story. I loved Ada Ruth's saddle shoes, so popular at the time. And the color palette used, in rich tones of browns, blues and icy whites, also reflects the sense of country living in the dead of winter.
Woodson has subtly given us a glimpse of one of the ways that the war effected the lives of African American woman and children on the home front in this story. Ada Ruth's experience of the war was, unfortunately, not uncommon. When men went to fight in WWII, it created a shortage of workers and opened opportunities for women to take over their jobs and earn better money than they normally would have been paid. Here, Ada Ruth's Mama went to Chicago and worked for the railroad, washing train cars. Pullman in Chicago had begun to hire black men in the 1930s, but by 1944, as the war went on, the company faced a shortage of workers and began to hire black woman as well.
This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL
This review was originally posted at The Children's War
calistareads's review
4.0
This is a beautiful poem. A young girl waits for her mama to come back home during the winter. She is living with her grandma after her mom has gone to Chicago to make some money during the war, I’m assuming WWII, but it doesn’t say. Life goes on, but she misses her mama.
The artwork is a little fuzzy and not much color to really evoke that feeling of winter. That sense of waiting goes well with the season. It’s very well done. It’s a beautiful book, but it’s on the melancholy side of feelings. It is low energy and it’s about waiting, not anything exciting and uplifting until the mother is coming home and the colors brighten and it does uplift.
So needless to say, the kids weren’t real thrilled with this realistic slow story. The nephew outright hated it and gave it 1 star. It’s boring. The niece understood missing her mama. She misses her mama all the time. She didn’t like a story about waiting for mama. That made her feel a little anxious. She too didn’t like the story and gave it 1 star. This is for kids who appreciate a more nuanced and slower story.
The artwork is a little fuzzy and not much color to really evoke that feeling of winter. That sense of waiting goes well with the season. It’s very well done. It’s a beautiful book, but it’s on the melancholy side of feelings. It is low energy and it’s about waiting, not anything exciting and uplifting until the mother is coming home and the colors brighten and it does uplift.
So needless to say, the kids weren’t real thrilled with this realistic slow story. The nephew outright hated it and gave it 1 star. It’s boring. The niece understood missing her mama. She misses her mama all the time. She didn’t like a story about waiting for mama. That made her feel a little anxious. She too didn’t like the story and gave it 1 star. This is for kids who appreciate a more nuanced and slower story.