BACK HOME by Gloria Jean Pinkney and Jerry Pinkney

 


Pinkney, G.J. & Pinkney, J. (1992). BACK HOME. Dial Books for young readers.

 Even though eight-year-old Ernestine lives with her family up North, "back home" is Lumberton, North Carolina, the place where she was born and where her mama grew up. She feels at home as soon as she gets off of the train. The countryside is green and lush. She loves working on the family farm and spending time with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. She learns her roots by visiting the cabin she was born in and seeing her grandmother’s grave. This visit home is based on Gloria Pinkney's own childhood memories of family reunions back home.

This is Gloria Pinkney’s first book, and the beginning of her and husband and illustrator Jerry Pinkney creating wonderful works of art together for children to enjoy.

The only cultural marker I found in the book was when Aunt Beula used the endearment “chile.”  The rest of the story could be about any southern farmer’s family of the time-white or black. This is one of those books that is about the story itself and not the characters’ skin color.

 

Publisher’s Weekly: “Gloria Pinkney's text has a relaxed pace that is perfectly suited to the summer setting. Her characterizations are particularly well-drawn, and her dialogue is thoroughly convincing. In some of Jerry Pinkney's finest work, sunlight filters through his pencil and watercolor illustrations, imbuing them with a feathery soft glow. Rustic elements such as mule and plow, a pipe stove, and Uncle June's beloved old truck create a vivid sense of time and place. The human figures seem to spring to life in several atmosphere-laden scenes, their expressive, down-home faces shining with surprise, admiration, and love.” 

 

An article on the Horn Book website about the whole Pinkney family and their tradition of creating children’s books.

The Pinkney Family: In the Tradition

THE SUNDAY OUTING (ISBN 978-0803711983) Gloria's latest book is the prequel to BACK HOME. 

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