Being Home

Starred review from February 12, 2024
An Indigenous child narrator looks forward to adjusting “our tempo” in this expansive portrait of a family’s move away from metropolitan surrounds and to “our ancestors’ land/ and to our people.” As the move progresses, enrolled Cherokee Nation citizen Sorell (At the Mountain’s Base) uses spare, rhythmic language to capture the child’s glad readiness: “See you later house./ Gotta go, swing.// Time to head home/ and change our tempo.” Caldecott Medalist Goade, a member of the Tlingit and Haida tribes, begins by showing the family’s cool-toned, hard-edged city surroundings, where “cars rush,/ crowds collect.” As they travel, the child’s pink-inked sketches permeate the passing landscape until they arrive at the Cherokee Nation Reservation, depicted in soft-edged organic forms shown in pinks and greens. There, “everyone’s here to help” the two unpack, and there’s “room to run, ride, or roll along” as well as loved ones “close enough to gather, eat,/ laugh, dance, and share.” It’s a joyful image of a family embracing change that examines “the rhythm of being home.” Background characters are portrayed with various abilities, ages, body types, and skin tones. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Emily Mitchell, Wernick & Pratt. Illustrator’s agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions.

March 1, 2024
A contemporary Cherokee family finds their way home. Life in the city is chaotic, a young child tells us. Etsi (Cherokee for mother) decides it's time for them to leave. They pack up their belongings in boxes, wave goodbye to their house, and drive off, "on a new path. / One that leads us to / our ancestors' land / and to our people." When they arrive, they're greeted by a loving community. Everyone helps unload the car and gathers for a feast. Then the narrator races off with other children through the woods to play and explore. Sorell's (Cherokee Nation) lyrical, alliterative verse positively sings. Instead of "busy streets" and "crowded spaces," there is "room to run." Here, children can "hear the creek, cool and constant." Goade's (Tlingit Nation) breathtaking mixed-media artwork layers in emotion, transitioning from urban scenes dominated by dark, looming structures and impersonal silhouettes to vibrantly illustrated spreads teeming with the smiling faces of friends and family. Shimmering colors and geometric shapes bring to life the protagonist's world. Doodlelike pages from the child's journal reveal the narrator's anticipation. The color pink is a motif throughout--it appears sporadically early on, then slowly infuses the pages; the final spreads are suffused with hues of rose as the sun sets and the children play by the light of the moon. An evocative, heartwarming testament to the power of home and community. (Cherokee glossary) (Picture book. 6-10)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2024
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* On the surface, Being Home is a simple story of a small family that leaves one home, takes a long road trip, and settles in a new place. But layered on top of that premise is a message of deep connections felt by the girl and her mother to their ancestors and land. There is the sense that, in the city, this tiny family of a girl, her mother, and their dog have lost that connection to people, animals, and land, and to find it, they must drive back to their home on the Cherokee Nation Reservation. The spare text relies on the lush, detailed illustrations to build context. The girl documents their trip in her sketchbook, laying out the geography they see along the way. Like a palimpsest, the girl's drawings are superimposed onto the illustrations, suggesting the flora and fauna that thrived there before the road cut through it. The girl's imagination is rendered in a vibrant pink hue that is present in one way or another on every page. The family's "new" home is a place of community and warmth, a place where the "rhythm of home" is palpable. Readers young and old will want to linger with these gorgeous pages, noting the rich textures and details.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 28, 2024

Gr 2-6-In the past, it seemed like books about Native Americans fit one of two molds: picture books overly romanticizing history, or chapter books about kids breaking trauma cycles and escaping the hopelessness of the reservation. With Being Home, readers get a significant alternate to those narratives. Not only is it a children's book about a modern-day Cherokee girl, but it's about her joyful return to her family's country home, minus any rift or heartbreak. It's pure rejoicing in nature and space. The illustrations follow her journey from a hectic and overwhelming cityscape to the lush greenery and naturalistic styles surrounding trees and creeks. Integrated in the journey from the cramped city are stylized pink drawings of birds and symbols, guiding the way with promises of peaceful traditions. The text of the book is plain and straightforward; it is not rhyming, but there's a deep undercurrent of rhythm to how the story unfolds. It's strong and reassuring. It echoes the pull of home, to a contented place where you belong. VERDICT A grounded depiction of treasuring home and culture, skillfully presented by two artists of Indigenous backgrounds.-Cat McCarrey

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2024
Caldecott-winning Goade (Tlingit Nation) evokes a unique mood in each book she illustrates. Here she uses gray and dull browns and blues in her mixed-media art to show city scenes, but leafy green to depict the rural ancestral lands of a family's home, to which they are returning. Brilliantly, she employs hot pink as the signature color for the narrator, a girl who happily moves away from the city without looking back ("I'm ready"). In the first pages, that pink appears as a kind of decorative, clashing overlay, as if the girl's imagination is doodling over her nondescript surroundings. As they drive home, though, more warm pink colors appear contextually in flowers, furniture, clothing, food, and the sunset -- the girl blends in naturally with her new environment. The progression of colors matches the spare text by Sorell (Cherokee Nation), which describes the family's change in location as a change in rhythm and tempo: "Singing, / shell shaking, / storytelling, / stickball playing / all offer different beats." This story beautifully captures the joy of returning home and reuniting with family. Lara K. Aase

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
Caldecott-winning Goade (Tlingit Nation) evokes a unique mood in each book she illustrates. Here she uses gray and dull browns and blues in her mixed-media art to show city scenes, but leafy green to depict the rural ancestral lands of a family's home, to which they are returning. Brilliantly, she employs hot pink as the signature color for the narrator, a girl who happily moves away from the city without looking back ("I'm ready"). In the first pages, that pink appears as a kind of decorative, clashing overlay, as if the girl's imagination is doodling over her nondescript surroundings. As they drive home, though, more warm pink colors appear contextually in flowers, furniture, clothing, food, and the sunset -- the girl blends in naturally with her new environment. The progression of colors matches the spare text by Sorell (Cherokee Nation), which describes the family's change in location as a change in rhythm and tempo: "Singing, / shell shaking, / storytelling, / stickball playing / all offer different beats." This story beautifully captures the joy of returning home and reuniting with family.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)