What's Your Journey?

I pre-read all of the books I sahre with Eva and Leah, just to be sure they don't raise any questions that are better discussed with mom and dad (get your minds out of the gutter-not those kinds of questions, mom and dad talk about more than just that!!).  Today's book was Allen Say's Grandfather's Journey.I have to admit that I did not thinik this book would go over well.  Don't get me wrong, the pictures are beautiful but they are paintings done in the style of 1920's portrait photography.  For those of you unfamilar with that style the best description I can give you is that it is very stiff. 

I was plesantly surprised to find that my initial prediction was dead wrong. Eva and Leah actively interacted with the story, a tale of a man from Japan who makes his home in California for a time and then returns to Japan-in both countries he struggles with homesickness, asking questions and nodding along.  They were also completly captivated by the pictures!  Eva, who in the past has been very hard to please, firmly declared that the pictures were, "good" and even flipped back to her favorite, a young girl posing with her doll. Leah pointed to each person asking, "who is that?"  

Perhaps the simplicity of the pictures allowed more room for them to fill in the story.  Maybe it was a nice change of pace, or maybe the similarity to pictures they have already seen from their own family history made it more familiar and accessible.  Whatever the case may be it was clear that both girls were captivated by this book. This book captivated me as well but for different reasons.  I am currently taking an ELL (English-Language-Learner) class and I wondered if the grandfather's feelings of homesickness are echoed by the students I will one day teach.  I wondered if these feelings can be shared by those who moved from one end of the country to another, or to a different state, or even a different town less than an hour away.  In a way I think this book is so captivating because all of us can resonate with grandfather's journey.

So, that begs the question, What's your journey?

Leting yourself wonder..that's kids stuff.