The Leaving Morning (Theme 5: Home Sweet Home) - Softcover

The bittersweet feelings that accompany the move from a familiar home to a new one are portrayed with a gentle hand in the latest offering from the creators of When I'm Old with You and One of Three. A boy tells of the last few days leading up to the leaving morning. Packing boxes of their favorite belongings and saying goodbyes have been difficult, but the boy and his sister take some comfort in their father's prediction: in a little while we'd be someplace we'd love. Johnson's brief text conveys a wealth of emotion. Her depiction of a day in the life of a family provides plenty of common experiences to which young readers will relate, but also leaves room for speculation about the characters' specific circumstances. And Soman's warm watercolors help fill in some particulars-youngsters can see that Mama is pregnant and that the big-city apartment may be a bit small for this growing brood. Carefully portrayed faces capture feelings of anxiety, sadness and relief in their various expressions. This thoughtful picture book may well provide reassurance for parents and children facing a relocation. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As in Tell Me a Story, Mama (1989) and other books this team has created, the importance of family gets thematic pride of place here. Preparing to move from an urban apartment, a black family spends more time saying good-bye to friends, neighbors, and relatives (``We said good-bye to the cousins all day long'') than packing. In Soman's large, golden-brown watercolors, readers can follow the play of emotions in the faces of parents and children as they hug, kiss, shake hands, or just speak quietly to one another, until the narrator and his father, pregnant mother, and older sister sit smiling together in a room the movers have emptied, then wave one last good-bye from the street. A gently reassuring view of a common, and often traumatic, experience. (Picture book. 3-6) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.