Goin’ Someplace Special Extension Project: Learn About YOUR Public Library McKissack notes that “reading is the doorway to freedom” but for ‘Tricia Ann, it’s a stressful journey to get there.

During Jim Crow south, the library was one of the few public places where blacks were treated with some respect. The author’s note tells the reader that in the 1950s, Nashville’s public library board of directors quietly voted to integrate all their facilities. It’s the public library where all are welcome. Finally, she makes her way to her special place. As she makes her way to “someplace special,” she passes the movie theatre where all but three balcony rows are off-limits to her. The manager throws her out and she runs to the protection of a walled church garden in tears.

When a celebrity pulled up in front of the fancy hotel ‘Tricia Ann stood in front of, she got swept in with the crowd and wound up in the lobby. As she crosses the public garden, she accidentally sits on a “For Whites Only” bench. McKissack, illustrated by Brian Pinkneyĭuring Jim Crow American, ‘Tricia Ann gets permission to travel by herself to “someplace special.” She takes the bus and has to sit in the colored section way in the back, which can run out of seats quickly. Book Across America Picture Bookįor Booking Across America, we chose Goin’ Someplace Special and we have an activity below based on this picture book. Her picture books also reflect her interest in exploring diversity topics that reflect her birth state: slavery, racism during Jim Crow south and full circle back to Africa during and before the time of slavers. She has also written a novel for The Royal Diaries series: Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba.

Patricia McKissack was born in Smyrna, Tennessee in 1944 and is well known for her Dear America books that cover three different stories of enslavement: A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North, and Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl. You might not have heard of her … so we’ve included a list of her books as well as a book extension idea. Not only was she born there, but she’s very active doing school visits and book talks all over the state. We chose Patricia McKissack as our children’s author to represent Tennessee. Tennessee was open where Valarie lives so I grabbed it for us. I was late to the sign up to my birth state of California was already taken, as well as Massachusetts where I now reside. I am thrilled to be co-posting with Valarie Budayr of Jump Into A Book for the Book Across America blog tour.

Nzingha by Patricia C. McKissack