Module 10: Goin' Someplace Special

Goin' Someplace Special 

by Patricia C. Mckissack

Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Mckisack, P. (Ill. by Jerry Pinkney) (2001). Goin' someplace special. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks.

"A Place for Everyone"

Summary:

Goin’ Someplace Special is a true memory from the author’s life with a fictionalized setting.  The author provides a note at the end of the story, sharing her personal experience.  In the story, a young girl steps out by herself to visit “someplace special.”  She encounters many places where she is not allowed because of the color of her skin.  She holds her head high each time and says she is going someplace special.  She finally ends up at the public library where everyone is welcome. 

Impressions:

Having not read the blurb, I had no idea where 'Tricia Ann was headed in the story.  It was such a surprise that the young girl ended up at the library.  The mix of watercolor by Pinkney and thoughtful text by McKissack was perfectly balanced.  I appreciated the first hand account and how such a simple experience can make a huge difference in someone's life.  My favorite scene in the book is when 'Tricia Ann interacted with a six year old boy at the Grand Music Palace.  I loved that the young boy didn't care about her skin color and would have rather joined 'Tricia Ann on her adventure than to stay for the performance.

Reviews:

From Booklist (starred):

Ages 5-8. Tricia Ann excitedly gets her grandmother's permission to go out by herself to "Someplace Special"--a place far enough away to take the bus and to have to walk a bit. But this isn't just any trip. Tricia's trip takes place in the segregated South of the 1950s. That means Tricia faces sitting at the back of the bus, not being allowed to sit on a whites-only park bench, and being escorted out of a hotel lobby. She almost gives up, but a local woman who some say is "addled,"but whom Tricia Ann knows to be gentle and wise, shows her how to listen to the voice inside herself that allows her to go on. She arrives at her special destination--the public library, whose sign reads "All Are Welcome."Pinkney's watercolor paintings are lush and sprawling as they evoke southern city streets and sidewalks as well as Tricia Ann's inner glow. In an author's note, McKissack lays out the autobiographical roots of the story and what she faced as a child growing up in Nashville. This book carries a strong message of pride and self-confidence as well as a pointed history lesson. It is also a beautiful tribute to the libraries that were ahead of their time.

Citation: Wilms, D. (2001). Starred reviews: Books for youth.  Booklist, 97(22), 2117. 


From Horn Book Magazine:
Young 'Tricia Ann is off to Someplace Special-and about to "burst with excitement" because her grandmother is letting her go there alone for the very first time. The journey is not an easy one: she must face the indignities of life in the Jim Crow South. She has to sit behind the sign on the bus that says "COLORED SECTION." She is not allowed to sit in the park by the Peace Fountain her stonemason grandfather helped build. She visits her friend the doorman at the elegant Southland Hotel and is asked to leave. "What makes you think you can come inside? No colored people are allowed!" the manager says. Despite these humiliations, 'Tricia Ann is strengthened at every turn by people who care about her and who bolster her with reminders to "Carry yo'self proud" and "Don't let those signs steal yo' happiness." Soon she reaches her beloved Someplace Special-the public library. The words carved in stone proclaim: "Public Library: All Are Welcome." Jerry Pinkney's illustrations place 'Tricia Ann at the center of each page, willing to face the challenges the outside world throws at her. Whether 'Tricia Ann is in her grandmother's kitchen (surrounded by bountiful fresh fruits and vegetables and the love they symbolize) or fearfully looking over her shoulder on the bus, Pinkney makes it clear that she will triumph. Though this story takes place in an unnamed Southern city, the helpful author's note states that McKissack was raised in Nashville, where, unlike many other Southern cities of the 1950s, the public libraries welcomed African Americans. The library pictured on the final pages, bathed in hopeful lemon sunshine, is the downtown library of 1950s Nashville. There are many books about a child's first trip alone, and many books about racism and the struggle for civil rights, but this book is about more than either: it is the story of a child facing a difficult time sustained by the support of the adults in her life. McKissack and Pinkney strike just the right balance in a picture book for young readers and listeners: informative without being preachy; hopeful without being sentimental.

Citation: Smith, R. (2001). Goin' someplace special. Horn Book Magazine, 77(6), 736-737.

Library Activity:

As a library activity, this book should be read aloud to students of all ages at the beginning of the school year.  When students discover that the library is the young girl's destination, discuss the freedoms information affords us all.  The library should be a place for people to feel safe and respected.  Talk about the freedom to read, the freedom to select books that interest them, and how respecting each other's freedom is just as important, if not more in order for our society to be successful.