Going Down Home With Daddy

Picture book

"On reunion morning, we rise before the sun.  Daddy hums as he packs our car with suitcases and a cooler full of snacks.  He says there's nothing like going down home."

     Lil Alan, protagonist of Kelly Starling Lyons' Going Down Home With Daddy, is really excited about a family reunion celebration.  But as he and his family drive south he's also anxious.  He's sure he'll be the only one who won't have a thing to share.

     Even as they arrive and he plays with his cousins, enjoys a traditional supper, and attends church the next morning he can't get that worry off his mind.  His father tells him to think with his heart.

     This sensitive story combines a really common childhood fear with a tribute to keeping alive a family's and people's history in a world that would often consider both to be trivial.  Lyons' husband's heritage, as well as her own, inspired her to write the book.

On a purrrsonal note, Sunday Eugene got home.  He and his brother had spent the night at camp.  I was attending zoom church.  Right in the middle of Pastor Mariah's sermon he asked if I wanted to go for a ride.  So I shut off my laptop.  The foliage was lovely.  Plus Eugene got subs that were lunch and supper so I didn't have to cook. (Jules)

She does not like to cook. (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene 

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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