Customer Reviews
Grandfather's Journey 
2008-04-03
This book that is based on Say's grandfathers voyage from Japan to the United States and back again was released my Houghton Mifflin and is the recipient of the Caldecott Medal in 1994.The setting of the book shifts from a rural Japanese village in the early part of the twentieth century through parts of the United States and back to the cities and villages of Japan. Say has written and illustrated this book that tells the tale of a young man from Japan that sails across the Pacific Ocean to explore the United States. After traveling through the country he is drawn to the coastal shores of California with its strong sunlight and the Sierra Mountains. Shortly after, he returns to his Japanese village to marry his childhood sweetheart and brings her to his new land.
He settles in San Francisco and they have a baby girl. He never forgot his own childhood in Japan and his old friends and became nostalgic about his own rivers and mountains. When the daughter was grown he could wait no more and they returned to his homeland. The father spent many happy times as his found the rivers and mountains as he had left them. He was able to exchange stories and memories with old friends. The daughter was not happy in this small village and so the father bought a house in a large city nearby where soon the daughter fell in love and married and some time later had a son of her own.
This young boy is the author of the book and recounts how he loved to spend time with his grandfather and hear stories of California. The grandfather could not forget the mountain of California and soon became anxious to return but war broke out. After the war there was little of the city left so the grandfather traveled back to the village of his childhood. He longed to see California but never got the chance.
As the boy grew he went to see the California his grandfather had so loved. He came to love the land just as his grandfather did and found that he shared the feelings of his grandfather in that when he was in one land he longed to be in another. Feeling homesick for Japan while in California, he often visits the land of his ancestors to see the mountains and rivers of his childhood. The text in this book parallels the life of Say's grandfather with respect to the journey that brought Say and his family to live in the United States.
Wonderful and heartwarming book! 
2007-08-17
What a beautiful book. The illustrations are magnificent and the story itself is amazing. It brought a tear to my eye as I remembered my Nonno.
Grandfather's Journey 2007-03-14
This book is a deserving winner of the Caldecott. I was often offended by books that portrayed immigrants as one dimensional in that they were always so glad to arrive in America and never appeared to have feelings for their native country. As an immigrant I know that relocation in America, while often a blessing, comes at a price. Grandfather's Journey is a beautiful book that depicts the struggle of being pulled by love of new and old homelands.
Great Selection! 2006-09-02
The cover illustration is what initially drew me to this book; watching a young man stand on the deck of a steamship while the wind and waves thrash about. The color of the sea beckoned me to turn the pages and find out more about where this man was going and whether or not he would get there.
Grandfather is a young immigrant traveling from Japan to his new home in America. He journeys all across this land and experiences all aspects of it: cities, farms, mountains, rivers, people, etc. He settles in California but eventually misses his homeland, and travels back to satisfy his longings. Through a series of events, he is unable to make his way back to the West Coast that he loves so much.
My husband and I were in the Navy and lived among people from all over the world. I loved getting to know them and experiencing their ways of life. Understanding how other people around the world think and love and live, has made me a more complete person. It has made me who I am today. In this way I connect with Grandfather and his journeys.
A Wonderful Story 2006-07-03
Allen Say's autobiographical Grandfather's Journey's beautiful illustrations won the Caldecott Medal, but that is only half the reason to recommend this book. This story is about a Japanese man struggling over what his home is--the United States or Japan.
When he is almost an adult, a young man (who would be Say's grandfather) moves to North America. He travels all over the United States (depicted in the illustrations) and falls in love with San Francisco. He briefly returns to Japan for his childhood love, then returns to San Francisco. Together they have a daughter and are living happily, but the grandfather becomes homesick for the mountain, rivers and friends of Japan. We see him surrounded by his songbirds in American clothes wishing for his home. Finally, when his daughter is almost grown, he returns to Japan. He laughs with his friends in his home village and for a time is happy. But his daughter had spent all her life in San Francisco and was not meant for the small village, so her father buys her a house in a city. She marries an untraditional man and has a son.
But the father wishes for San Francisco. We see, as his grandson saw, him surrounded by songbirds and the things he loves, dressed in the traditional Japanese dress, wishing for his home in San Francisco. He plans to return to North America.
Unfortunately, World War II begins and destroys the city. Grandfather returns to the small village, but never had another songbird. He told his grandson (who is the author and illustrator, Allen Say)that he wished to return to San Francisco one more time. But he died before he had the chance.
When his granson was nearly an adult, he went to America himself to see what his grandfather had talked about. He falls in love with it, but is homesick. Whenever he visits Japan, however, he longs for San Fransisco. He thinks of his grandfather and understands him more than ever.
Grandfather's Journey is beautiful, but some young children may not understand the emotions of the characters. Still, Grandfather's Journey is beautiful and deserves to be read by people of all ages.
This book is ok. 2006-07-03
Through compelling reminiscences of his grandfather's life in America and Japan, Allen Say gives us a poignant acount of a family's unique cross-cultural experience. He warmly conveys his own love for his two countries, and the strong and constant desire to be in both places at once.
Spellbinding 2006-05-26
This book tells the wonderfully fascinating story about Allen Say's grandfather, who traveled to America, and fell in love with its culture. He explored mountains and landmarks of America, and met many different people, but the state he loved the most, was California. So he went back to Japan and married, and started a family in California. But he soon grew homesick, and moved back to Japan. This book tells the story of him and his family in this beautifully illustrated page-turner.
Spellbinding 2006-05-26
This book tells the wonderfully fascinating story about Allen Say's grandfather, who traveled to America, and fell in love with its culture. He explored mountains and landmarks of America, and met many different people, but the state he loved the most, was California. So he went back to Japan and married, and started a family in California. But he soon grew homesick, and moved back to Japan. This book tells the story of him and his family in this beautifully illustrated page-turner.
Grandfathers Journey 2006-05-24
This Book is very symbolic for a life lesson. It shows how you may want one thing and you get it but you always want it. Its a very vauble lesson to learn and it also shows how you need to know what is best and the right decision for you.
Grandfather's Journey Review 2006-04-12
If you love books where younger kids look up to their parents and/or grandparents and then those kids become like their parents and/or grandparents, than Grandfather's Journey is a great book for you. Grandfather's Journey is a spectacular book to read. I'm not the only person who agrees with this book being spectacular. Grandfather's Journey is about the narrator telling how his grandfather was split between two countries. The reason the narrator's grandfather was split between two countries is because the grandfather was born in Japan and went to California. When the grandfather was in California he wished he was in Japan, and when he was in Japan he wished he was in California. This story not only tells about how people can be split between countries, but it also tells how you can learn a lot about yourself from things your parents and/or grandparents did and/or do. Grandfather's Journey also is a story about how younger kids grow up to be like their parents and/or grandparents. On the way to becoming like their parent and/or grandparent the kid learns a lot of new things, like why a person acts the way they do. That's what happened to the narrator in Grandfather's Journey. In the end of Grandfather's Journey the narrator learned something, but you will have to read this book and find out what the narrator learned.
