Goin' Someplace Special

Through moving prose and beautiful watercolors, a Coretta Scott King Award and Caldecott Medal-winning author-illustrator duo collaborate to tell the poignant tale of a spirited young girl who comes face to face with segregation in her southern town.

There's a place in this 1950s southern town where all are welcome, no matter what their skin color...and 'Tricia Ann knows exactly how to get there. To her, it's someplace special and she's bursting to go by herself. But when she catches the bus heading downtown, unlike the white passengers, she must sit in the back behind the Jim Crow sign and wonder why life's so unfair.

Still, for each hurtful sign seen and painful comment heard, there's a friend around the corner reminding 'Tricia Ann that she's not alone. And her grandmother's words--"You are somebody, a human being--no better, no worse than anybody else in this world"--echo in her head, lifting her spirits and pushing her forward.

Author: Patricia C. McKissack
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 09/01/2001
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.04lbs
Size: 11.95h x 9.13w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9780689818851
Audience: Ages 4-8

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.3
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 53934 / Goin' Someplace Special

Award: California Young Reader Medal - Nominee
Award: Coretta Scott King Award - Winner
Award: Georgia Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: North Carolina Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: Bookseller's Choice - Winner
Award: Parents Choice Award (Fall) (1998-2007) - Winner
Award: Bluebonnet Awards - Nominee
Award: South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award - Nominee
Award: Black-Eyed Susan Award - Nominee
Award: Monarch Award - Nominee
Award: Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award - Nominee

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 08/01/2001 pg. 2117
School Library Journal 09/01/2001 pg. 199
Publishers Weekly 08/06/2001 pg. 89
Kirkus Review - Children 09/15/2001 pg. 1362
BookPage 10/01/2001 pg. 27
Black Issues Book Review 11/01/2001 pg. 76
Horn Book Magazine 11/01/2001 pg. 736
Christian Home & School 01/01/2002 pg. 27
New York Times 02/10/2002 pg. 20
Multicultural Review 03/01/2002 pg. 101
ALA Notable Children's Books 03/15/2002 pg. 1234
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2001 pg. 52 - Superior,Well Above Average
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2002 pg. 52 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author
Patricia C. McKissack is the author of many highly acclaimed books for children, including Goin' Someplace Special, a Coretta Scott King Award winner; The Honest-to-Goodness Truth; Let My People Go, written with her husband, Fredrick, and recipient of the NAACP Image Award; The Dark-Thirty, a Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Award winner; and Mirandy and Brother Wind, recipient of the Caldecott Medal and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Jerry Pinkney (1939-2021) illustrated 100 children's books, and his work earned the 2010 Caldecott Medal, five Caldecott Honor Medals, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five Coretta Scott King Honors, five New York Times Best Illustrated Book awards, and, in 2006, the Original Art Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators. Jerry Pinkney's many acclaimed titles included John Henry, Minty, Sam and the Tigers, The Ugly Duckling, and Mirandy and Brother Wind. Find out more at JerryPinkneyStudio.com.