Back Home: Story Time with My Father

Back Home: Story Time with My Father
Co-Authors / Illustrators
Publisher
Age Range
4+
Release Date
May 07, 2024
ISBN
978-1536223200
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A lyrical text and vivid, luminous imagery transport readers to Haiti through a father’s tales and a child’s imagination—and invite them to tell stories of their own.

Krik! Krak!
This is how story time begins.

Lune loves hearing her daddy’s stories—the funny ones, the sad ones, the ones with lessons about truth and love. Whether evoking an ill-fated climb up a mango tree or life after a hurricane, flying over magical mountains or the healing power of a mother’s love, all of Daddy’s stories begin with “lakay”—back home—and each one ushers Lune to Haiti, her father’s homeland, a place she doesn’t know but can see, hear, and feel when she closes her eyes. Daddy is her favorite book, and sometimes she stays up late just to hear another story when he gets home from work. Everyone has stories, her mommy tells her, so Lune begins to wonder: could she have stories of her own, too? Author Arlène Elizabeth Casimir offers a love letter to her parents’ birthplace and to the ways storytelling can bring us together, illustrated in lush, enchanting colors by acclaimed artist Ken Daley. Included is a glossary and two author’s notes—one to caregivers and teachers, one to kids—providing ideas and encouragement for sharing the power of story.

Editor review

1 review
First Generation Americans
Overall rating
 
5.0
Plot
 
5.0
Characters
 
5.0
Writing Style
 
5.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
5.0
Back Home is a love letter to the author’s childhood that children of immigrants would find relatable. The father brings his home country, Haiti, to life for his daughter through stories of his childhood home. I love the sweeping strokes in the illustrations that communicate that she is being swept away in her imagination to a country of her heart that she has never seen with her eyes. I love the vibrant color scheme and how the tone of the text and the illustrations convey the love between this father and his daughter. The father works long hours at many jobs but still has time for his daughter who waits up for him so they can have special time to recount stories of his past. This book has an outpouring of love and fondness for this daily ritual the two have. I highly recommend this story for children born in America whose parents' roots are in other countries. I love that the culture is embraced, treasured, and kept alive for the next generation that may never experience it for themselves.
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