Big Papa and the Time Machine

A beautiful journey into African American history: Discover the true meaning of being brave in this tender and whimsical picture book from Daniel Bernstrom (One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree; Gator, Gator, Gator) and Shane Evans (Chocolate Me!) that follows a grandfather and grandson traveling through time and discovering their own African American history.

When a little boy is feeling afraid to go to school one day, his grandfather, Big Papa, takes him away in his time machine—a 1952 Ford—back to all of the times when he was scared of something life was handing him. "That's called being brave," Big Papa says over and over.

Full of heartfelt moments and thrilling magical realism, Big Papa and the Time Machine speaks to the African American experience in a touching dialogue between two family members from different generations and emerges as a voice that shares history and asks questions about one family’s experience in 20th-century black America.

“Wasn’t you scared?”

“Oh, I was scared,” Big Papa said. “Sometimes you gotta walk with giants if you ever gonna know what you made of. That’s called being brave.”

Daniel Bernstrom is the author of the critically acclaimed One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree as well as Gator, Gator, Gator!, Big Papa and the Time Machine, Song in the City, and Good Night, Little Man. Dan earned an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University and currently works at the Learning Resource Center coordinator at Minnesota State College Southeast, where he tutors students in math, writing, and science. He lives in Red Wing, Minnesota, with his wife, Heather; daughter, LaVonne; and sons, Grace, and Haven.

Shane W. Evans is the author and illustrator of Underground, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner, We March, and Olu’s Dream and the illustrator of more than forty books for children, including Chocolate Me!; Mixed Me!; and I Love You More Than . . . , all by Taye Diggs. He has exhibited his art all over the world, in West Africa, South Africa, and France and Chicago, New York, and other major U.S. cities. He has a home base in Kansas City, Missouri, where he runs Dream Studio, a studio that is open to the community. You can visit the work online at www.shaneevans.com and www.dreamstudio777.com.