Gloria Jean Pinkney

I liked this book for a couple reasons. First, I liked that the book pushes reader to think about how some people aren’t as fortunate as others. In the story, a young girl named Ernestine wants to ride the train to visit her extended family one summer. She spends every Sunday going to the train station with her Aunt. Her parents tell her that they can’t afford to buy the train ticket for her so Ernestine tells her parents “I don’t need new school clothes, Mama,” so they can save money. This book pushes readers to think about how some people can’t afford things that they really want so they have to make sacrifices. I also like this book because the illustrations enhance the story. The illustrations accurately depict the time period which is not explicitly stated in the text. For example, the characters are wearing old fashioned clothes and houses and buildings resemble an older style. Having these illustrations with the story allow the readers to understand the time period and overall setting of the story. The overall message of the story is that some people are not as fortunate as others and have to make sacrifices in order to get what they want. This is evident when Ernestine’s parents tell her that they can’t afford to send her on the train. Ernestine sacrifices getting new clothes and her mother says, “we can give up somethings too. I have a little saved for the down payment of that electric sewing machine.” Also, her father says that he will give up buying new tools to save money. The whole family sacrificed something so that Ernestine could ride the train and she her extended family.… (altro)

I had mixed feelings about this book. While there were many things I did enjoy about this book, I had trouble reading it because I was just not entirely interested in the book and the pictures did not really speak to me. Since I am very big on visuals, I think not liking the illustrations had a lot to do with why I did not really like the book. However, here are a few of the things I did enjoy about this book. I did enjoy that the author used a great amount of dialogue throughout her story. I feel like this does draw the reader into the story more because I was able to hear the individual voices and personalities through the dialogue. The big idea regarding this book was for Ernestine to have the courage to visit her extended family on the farm.… (altro)

At first I thought this book would be very long and uninteresting, but after reading it, I loved it! What I liked most about the book was the character development. Ernestine was hesitant to engage in the southern farm life, but throughout the book, she grew excited about wearing the overalls, riding the goat, and was okay with getting bug bites. In addition, her cousin, Jack, developed from a mean boy making fun of Ernestine for being from the city to being friends with her and naming his goat a “citified name.” I also really enjoyed the language in the book. This text introduced a southern dialect of English that many children who live in the north, may not ever hear. Ernestine’s aunt calls her “chile” every time she speaks to her and the uncle asked her if “the train ride was to [her] liking.” These words and phrases introduce a new culture to children and provide a new perspective to a different part of our country. Finally, I enjoyed the colorful, watercolor illustrations throughout the book. The bright colors set the scene well and portrayed a warm and sunny North Carolina town.… (altro)