Review: Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Say, Allen. 1993. Grandfather’s Journey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0395570352

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Grandfather’s Journey is the story of Allen Say’s grandfather, as he leaves Japan to visit new places around the United States of America. After spending 3 weeks traveling to America by steamship, he took a train, riverboat, and walked everywhere. Grandfather explored the Southwest, the Midwest, and mountains, finally settling in California. Eventually, he returned to Japan to marry his sweetheart, bringing her back to San Francisco to raise their daughter. Many years later, and overcome with homesickness, Grandfather brought his wife and daughter back to Japan to live in the city. Say’s mother met and married his father in Japan, where Say was born. Although he enjoyed his life in Japan, Grandfather missed living in California. When bombs destroyed their house in the city, Grandfather and Grandmother moved back to the small village where they grew up. Grandfather’s stories inspired Say to move to California when he was grown.  

3.    CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Grandfather’s Journey explores themes of immigration and homesickness, but in a way that would be easily understood by children. Allen Say discusses a common occurrence with immigrants, which is the love they have for their home country as well as their adopted country. Grandfather expresses wonder and amazement at the different landscapes and people he finds in America. Although grandfather fell in love with the California coast after exploring much of the United States, he returned to Japan in order to marry his childhood sweetheart (Say’s grandmother). Once grandfather had a daughter of his own, he wanted to raise her back in Japan, where he grew up. The action shifts back and forth between Japan and America as grandfather, his family, and finally Say himself move from place to place and between 2 distinct cultures.

Cultural markers are sparse in the text, but Say does emphasize the love of birds his grandfather has, both in California and Japan. Grandfather kept songbirds in his home in California, so he wouldn’t forget the beauty of his home in Japan. He also briefly touches on the destruction of Japan during World War 2, but without details that may disturb younger readers, saying instead, “Bombs fell from the sky and scattered our lives like leaves in a storm.” There are no mentions of first names or dialects, celebrations, foods, or descriptions of Say’s family. Say very clearly emphasizes that this is the personal story of his grandfather’s experience coming from Japan, and is not simply a generic immigration centered on the Asian culture.

Say’s illustrations show the love and respect he has for his grandfather’s story. These images are where the majority of cultural markers for the Japanese culture exist.

The first image of Say’s grandfather shows him in traditional Japanese dress, while the second image is grandfather wearing “European clothes” for the first time while crossing the Pacific Ocean. Each picture Say created for his book looks like a posed photograph, and all characters appear quite solemn and serious. It is as if Say took photographs from an album and painted the images exactly. In later images with Say’s grandmother and mother, they are all wearing American dresses, shoes, and hairstyles. However, once the story moves back to Japan, Say illustrates his grandparents wearing Japanese styles once again. The clothing, hairstyles, and architecture are all accurately represented in the illustrations as being pre-World War 2. Say paints lovely backgrounds and landscapes, showing he clearly relishes illustrating his family’s story and the locations they treasured the most.

Allen Say writes a moving narrative of his grandfather’s travels between Japan and California and how it inspired his own move from Yokohama, Japan to California. As Say writes, “The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other.”

4. AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Caldecott Medal Winner, 2004

Positive review in Publisher’s Weekly: “The tranquility of the art and the powerfully controlled prose underscore the profundity of Say's themes, investing the final line with an abiding, aching pathos: "The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other."

Positive review in School Library Journal: “A personal history of three generations of the author's family that points out the emotions that are common to the immigrant experience. Splendid, photoreal watercolors have the look of formal family portraits or candid snapshots, all set against idyllic landscapes in Japan and in the U.S.”

Positive review in Kirkus: “Lovely, quiet- -with a tenderness and warmth new to this fine illustrator's work.”

5. CONNECTIONS

* Other picture books by Allen Say:

Kamishibai Man. ISBN 9780618479542

Erika-San. ISBN 9780618889334

Tea with Milk. ISBN 9780547237473

The Boy in the Garden. ISBN 0547214103

Tree of Cranes. ISBN 9780547248301