Homebound: Grandfather's Journey
The Road Home Goes Both Ways In This Award Winning Picture Book
A Japanese American man and his grandfather are linked by a shared love of Japan and the U.S.
Allen Say writes and illustrates compelling picture books about his experiences as a Japanese American. In Grandfather’s Journey he shows the parallels between his life and his grandfather’s life. Both men lived in Japan and America and both feel special ties to each country.
The author’s grandfather was a man with an adventurous spirit. He wanted to see more of the world so he left Japan and came to America. He traveled all over the U.S. and marveled at what he saw. He liked California best: not because so many other Asian immigrants settled there, but because he loved the sunlight, the seacoast, and the Sierra Mountains. He returned to Japan to marry his childhood sweetheart, and then brought her to America. Say's grandparents truly made America their home, settling in and raising their daughter there. After many years in America, Say's grandfather longed for home, so he returned to Japan with his wife and adult daughter.
Japan is where Say was born and as a child he listened to his grandfather’s stories about the U.S. His grandfather missed the mountains of California and was planning a trip there, but he never made it back to the U.S. again. War disrupted not only Say's grandfather's life, but life in all of Japan The elderly man was saddened by the war and spent his last days in the village where he spent his childhood.
When Say was older he went to California himself, to see the land his grandfather so wanted to see one last time. He too found it enchanting and stayed many years until he also longed to see his friends and homeland again. He found himself making trips and writes, “The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other.” This feeling of having two homelands is something Say and his grandfather have in common.
The expressive paintings that illustrate “Grandfather’s Journey” are as crucial to the story as the spare text. The pictures with natural landscapes are especially evocative because sometimes it is easy to forget the natural beauty of one’s native land. The book provides balance in the ongoing dialogue about immigration to America, specifically Asian immigration. All immigrants do not leave their country of origin to escape, and it is possible to love another country as much as you love your own. Allen Say won a Caldecott Medal for this touching picture book.
Grandfather's Journey
Houghton Mifflin (1993)
32 pages
