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Goin' Someplace Special

By Patricia C. McKissack
Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

About The Book

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.

About The Author
Photo Credit:
Patricia C. McKissack

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.

About The Illustrator
Jerry Pinkney

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.

Product Details
  • Publisher: Aladdin (December 30, 2008)
  • Length: 40 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781416927358
  • Grades: P - 3
  • Ages: 4 - 8

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Awards and Honors
  • ALA Notable Children's Books
  • Children's Literature Choice List
  • Coretta Scott King Award (ALA)
  • Parents' Choice Award
  • Monarch Award Master List (IL)

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Goin' Someplace Special

By Patricia C. McKissack
Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

More books from this author: Patricia C. McKissack

More books from this illustrator: Jerry Pinkney