Coming On Home Soon

Coming On Home Soon

Written by Jacqueline Woodson

Illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Published in 2004 by Penguins Young Readers Group

32 Pages

Historical Fiction

It's wartime, so there's no men to take up the jobs left behind; therefore, brown skinned women, like Ada's mom, head to Chicago to work on the train tracks. It's a great opportunity and Ada's mom leaves with a promise to write her, to return, to always love her, and to bring back funds for their better living. Ada stays with Grandma, but time passes and nothing arrives from Ada's mom. One day, as Ada is looking out at the fresh snow, a little black kitten arrives. Together with Grandma, they wait and wait until one day the mailman arrives with a letter from Mom!!

The illustrations are beautifully detailed and very precise in depicting a regular home like any one of ours, thus giving a nice, familiar feeling. However, the kitten, the white emptiness of the snow, and sitting around the fireplace wittingly symbolize the emptiness with which they live because they all miss Mom. There's just so much thought put into the illustrations and to how it'll make the reader feel unconsciously that it's a must-read!!

This book is great for Social Studies! I would use this book with a second grade class in order to talk about the historical war that was going on during the time period and how it affected thousands of African Americans. Therefore, I would correlate this book with a nonfiction book about the same topic. The nonfiction book would give the littles the facts while this book would connect them on a more emotional level, thus resulting in better understanding.