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Donald Crews, the Caldecott Honor artist and award-winning creator of Freight Train, Truck, and many other classic picture books for young children, writes of his own childhood experiences visiting his grandparents in Florida. Four African American children travel with their mother, and when the train arrives in Cottondale, Florida, the summer at Bigmama's house begins! Donald Crews brilliantly evokes the sights, sounds, and emotions of a memorable childhood experience. Beautifully and richly illustrated, this is a wonderful choice for family reading and classroom sharing. "A very special book by a superb artist and storyteller."—The Horn Book Supports the Common Core State Standards
Lexile Measure: 550L (What's this?)
Paperback: 40 pages
Publisher: Greenwillow Books; Reprint edition (January 21, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0688158420
ISBN-13: 978-0688158422
Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #10,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #5 in Books > Children's Books > Biographies > United States #12 in Books > Children's Books > Geography & Cultures > Where We Live > Farm Life #26 in Books > Children's Books > Geography & Cultures > Multicultural Stories > African-American
Age Range: 4 - 8 years
Grade Level: Preschool - 3
Donald Crews departs from his usual simple text about such things as trucks and boats to share his childhood memories. The bold and colorful illustrations we usually find in his work are replaced by soft gentle colors and lines. Perhaps my endearment to this book stems from my own fond memories of riding the train back to my grandmother's home in Davenport, Iowa. Yet, there is more to this story than shared memories of days gone by. Even young children have memories of warm moments with someone special. As a first grade teacher I share this book with my students. It is a delight to see the special smiles that illuminate their faces, like the sweet smell of Spring, when they think of their special someone. For some children they think, like Crews, of grandma and her special cooking, for others their thoughts are of a visit to mom in a distant state. There thoughts are not meloncholy, like Crews, they are pleasant reminders of the treasures we find in each other.
This book is a departure from the style of Crews' "Freight Train", "Truck", "Harbor"- you get the pic (sorry, pun not intended). Just a slow, easy jaunt into a day in the life of country livin' in the late 40's (?). Tells the tale of the train trip to Bigmama's and what the family can look foward to spending their summer days there. Gives a description of the house and farm, with small, interesting details ("Maude was friendly, but Nancy was a biter"- the horses at Bigmama's). You can feel the excitement of the family as they all sit down to a meal together, then end the first day on the farm perfectly with a stargazing session, dreaming about their future days. The last lines always bring a lump to my throat (trite, but true) as I remember my summer days spent at my Nagymama's (Hungarian for "grandmother") small motel right outside of Wildwood, NJ, and how my world now is less simple. I am not sure if the illustration of the adult Mr. Crews on the last page is of him looking at the Newark skyline...just a thought, but I can not confirm it. There is even a small photo of Mr. Crews at age six at Bigmama's on the back flap of the dustjacket, and I like that little personal touch of history. Watercolor and gouache paints were used for the full-color art (Greenwillow states that, just in case you are an art freak). A book that captures the simple life and brings ya back to earth.
I cannot believe I am only just now learning about Donald Crews! I currently live in Los Angeles, but spent the majority of my life in Cottondale, Florida (and nearby Chipley and Marianna). It took having children for me to discover Donald Crews and his fantastic books! It's a wonderful blessing to be able to read to your children about rural life in the South, and I feel particularly lucky to be able to say the author understands firsthand. Thank you, Mr. Crews!
I used this book as a teaching tool for my kindergarteners. We were learning how to write narratives. This book illustrates how to do this wonderfully. The next book in this series, Shortcut, is also a must buy.
Read this to my grandson and almost started crying as it just overwhelmed me with recollections of days gone by. I, too, had a Big Mama and Big Papa and went to visit some summers with the same sentiment as those expressed in the book. The pictures, the colors, the expressions - all done beautifully. A great book for kids of any age, especially those with roots similar to Mr. Crews.
Bigmama's is a story about the memories of Donald Crews going with his family to visit his grandparents in Florida. The children call the Grandparents Bigmama and Bigpapa and they lived on a rural farm with a pond. It is easy to relate to the story for most children because they visit grandparents and although the visits may differ the relationships within the family are similar and give the children a feeling of belonging to the family. The children in my preschool room love Bigmama's and love to share when they visit grandparents.
A good depiction of what happens when most African-American families get together and eat and the foods/beverages that we eat. I read this book in February for Black History Month when we talk about families. I love this book mainly because it reminds me of what happened when my family got together.
Nice simple storyline that my city-bred granddaughters can relate to since their "gramma" lives in the country on a farm. Love the illustrator. Good build-up through most of story but ending seems abrupt, as though the publisher didn't offer enough pages to the author. My grandkids have Latino heritage, so I appreciate the "color" deviation from "all-white".
Bigmama's
