Picture Book #24

Author:  Patricia C. McKissack

Title:  Goin' Someplace Special

Illustrator:  Jerry Pinkney

Readability score:  Kindergarten to Grade 2

Genre:  Fiction

Subgenre:  Historical

Theme:  Everyone has a special place.  

Primary and secondary characters:  Tricia Ann, Mama Frances, Jimmy Lee, Mr. John Willis, Blooming Mary

Awards:  2002 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

Date of Publication:  2001

Publishing company:  Atheneum Books for Young Readers

ISBN number:  0-689-81885-8

Tricia Ann tells Mama Frances that she is going Someplace Special by herself.  Mama Frances is hesitant at first, but decides to let her go on her own.  Tricia Ann heads to the bus stop.  She gets on the bus and has to sit at the back.  She hates sitting in the back.  Jim Crow isn't fair.  Tricia Ann gets off the bus at the right stop and heads to the park, where she can't sit because it is for whites only.  Tricia Ann keeps going.  She stops by the Southland Hotel to say hello to her friend, Mr. Willis.  Somehow she gets swept inside.  She gets kicked out immediately when some people notice her.  Tricia Ann gets upset and wants to go home.  She goes to the garden at the Mission Church, where Blooming Mary tells her to keep going and don't be afraid.  Tricia Ann finally makes it to Someplace Special, the Nashville Public Library, where everyone is welcome.  

This story would be appropriate in a literature circle that would take place around a Civil Rights Unit.  I would have the students read the story and answer some discussion questions.  The questions are:  Have you ever had a special place?  Describe it.  Were you allowed to go there by yourself?  What makes a Special Place special?  What or who is Jim Crow?  Based on what Tricia Ann says, is Jim Crow bad or good?