The Journey - Hardcover

Stewart, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374339058 ISBN 13: 9780374339050

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2001

Synopsis

A new heroine to win readers' hearts, joining the ranks of Lydia Grace Finch and Elizabeth Brown

Sunday

Dear Diary

The luckiest girl on this good earth is writing to you tonight -- my birthday -- made perfect a few minutes ago by the present of a lace handkerchief. Mother had even hidden a tiny cake in her suitcase! I've never been higher than Aunt Clara's porch, or farther than Yooder's General Store, but this week my dream is coming true. I'm finally in a big city! And more, I've escaped the farm and chores! After spending the morning quietly in our room, Mother, her friend Maggie, and I went to the top of one of the tallest buildings in the world. How can I ever thank Aunt Clara for giving me her place on this trip? Well, I'm sure to find a gift for her by the end of the week. But for now, perhaps I'll dream of Aunt Clara and home.

Until tomorrow,
my silent friend,
good night.
Hannah

Beginning in the dark hours of morning, an Amish girl, along with two adult companions, sets off for the big city for the first time. The reader receives nightly reports through young Hannah's diary, in which, with tireless awe, she relates the significant events of the day. Each experience is decidedly new to Hannah -- a trip to the top of a skyscraper, a visit to the aquarium -- yet in each she finds some universal element that reminds her of home. Though she loves the city, a trip to the art museum on the final day of her visit clinches Hannah's longing for family and familiarity; fortunately, the bus is ready to take her back to the place she loves most.

Sarah Stewart's text has the authentic ring of a smart girl's private thoughts, and David Small's pictures are magnificent.

About this title

Review

From the creators of the Caldecott Honor book The Gardener comes a handsome story about a young Amish girl's first visit to a big city. Each night Hannah writes to a "silent friend" (her journal) about the thrilling sights in Chicago: "If I stacked our home, the barn, and my one-room schoolhouse on top of each other, they wouldn't even reach the fourth floor of one of those huge skyscrapers! The city has more of everything. More buildings. More cars and buses. More people--all kinds of people--with almost all the colors of a quilt in their different clothes and faces." Her exuberance is tempered only by her homesickness, which is beautifully portrayed in illustrator David Small's pictures of Hannah's rural home, alternating with the exciting, strangely parallel depictions of city life. In the illustration for the above journal entry, for example, readers see the gridwork of city streets, with blocky skyscrapers in the background. On the next two-page wordless spread, Small reveals a view through Hannah's mind's eye of the women of her community working together on a similarly gridlike patchwork quilt. Hannah is an appealing guide to the city; readers will be mesmerized by her unique perspectives. (Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter

About the Author

Sarah Stewart and David Small, a Caldecott medalist, have collaborated on five books to date, including The Library and The Gardener, a Caldecott Honor Book. They live in Mendon, Michigan.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0374339058
• ISBN 13: 9780374339050
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Small David