Author Study: Angela Johnson

Title: Down the Winding Road
Author: Angela Johnson
Illustrator: Shane W. Evans
Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary:
This book is about two children and their yearly family reunion with their father’s side of the family. It takes place out in the country over the period of one day touching on memories of the earlier generation of the family.

Opinion:
Again, Johnson uses a poetic form of writing, which I’m not sure classifies as poetry. She tells not only the story of the little girl and her brother, but she alludes to past events experienced by the earlier of three to four generations mentioned in the book. She paints those generations not as feeble or boring, but as lively, animated people. Although throughout the book they are referred to as “the Old Ones,” I feel a more appropriate term would be wise since they don’t seem “old” to me at all.

The illustrations in this book are interesting. While I would not consider them to be the most amazing illustrations I’ve ever seen, they do their job in adding interest and awe to the story. My favorite would be the page describing May in the maple tree. The faces are so animated and you can see the joy on the “Old Ones’” faces and feel it as palpably as the fear within the little girl as she gets lifted into the branches above her.

This is a good picture book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, so why did it get four of five stars? Well, simply because it wasn’t a favorite of mine. In order for it to be a favorite, books need to connect with me on a deeper level through personal experiences. I need to relate to a book in order to love it and although this is a good book, I don’t have a deep personal connection to it. I don’t have a large older generation before me in my family and my family reunions usually involve long winded speeches and too much bug relent rather than stories and tire swings by the lake. I’m sure this book would connect with many other people, just not me.

As far as classroom curriculum goes, it could be part of a picture book genre study or author study to expose students to different types of writing and different authors and I see no reason to keep it off my classroom library shelf for curious readers. It could fit into an African-American author theme for older grades, or family unit, siblings theme, or a country/farm unit for younger grades.