Goin' Someplace Special (Historical Fiction)

Goin' Someplace Special was written by Patricia C. McKissack and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It was published by Scholastic Inc. in 2001 and is recommended for third grade.

'Tricia Ann is a young African- American girl living in the South during the mid- 1900s. The South is still segregated and 'Tricia Ann has to go through her day abiding by the rules of the Jim Crow Laws. She hates having to only use the "colored people" benches, bus seats, and movie seats, but there is one place where she doesn't have to.

 

Goin' Someplace Special is a good source of literature because it educates children about the time period when we had segregation. There are sufficient references to the Jim Crow laws and obvious discrimination included to let the reader know the time period that 'Tricia Ann lives in. McKissack also included dialect from the African-American heritage that makes the story more authentic.

Pinkney's watercolor illustrations also contributed by giving readers a visual of 'Tricia Ann's day and the "whites only" signs from this time period. All of the pictures harmonized with the text and were appealing to me. This book is a great representation of historical fiction.

In this time period, 'Tricia Ann has to endure the hardships of segregation. Before segregation, there was slavery. After reading this book to the class, have students compare 'Tricia Ann's time period with the slavery in another book. (Henry's Freedom Box is a good example to use and is on my blog as well.) They should describe the differences and similarities of slavery and segregation along with examples and ideas from each story.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3
Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.