Being Home : A Librarian’s Perspective Review

I read Being Home by Traci Sorell after featuring it on the fabulous May 7, 2024 New Release Spotlight. I thought it might be a Caldecott 2025 contender, and after reading it, I stand by that prediction.

The illustrations are stunning and include lots of details that may be easy to miss if one is reading too quickly. I’ve included a list below of things to notice in the illustrations – definitely worth a look!

Picture Book

Being Home

Author: Traci Sorell

Illustrator: Michaela Goade

Publication date: May 7, 2024

Genre: picture book

Recommended for: PreS-Grade 5

Setting: long road trip from a "big city" to the Cherokee Nation Reservation

Themes: moving to a new home, family, cousins, Native Americans, play, moving out of the city, joy, nature

Protagonists: Cherokee family

Starred reviews: Publishers Weekly, Booklist, BCCB, and Kirkus

Pages: 32

See it on Amazon

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Today is a day of excitement—it’s time to move! As a young Cherokee girl says goodbye to the swing, the house, and the city she’s called home her whole life, she readies herself for an upcoming road trip.

While her mother drives, she draws in her sketchbook the changing landscape outside her window. She looks forward to the end of their journey, where she’ll eat the feast her extended family prepared, play in the creek with her cousins, and settle into the new rhythm of home.

AWARDS AND KUDOS

• Publishers Weekly starred
• Booklist starred
• Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books starred
• Kirkus starred

MY REVIEW OF BEING HOME

This is a story of home, family, belonging, and getting back to nature. There is no real conflict here, just excitement about moving, the journey, and family togetherness.

I like that the characters represent a large indigenous family that are happy to be together. They enjoy food and nature together – no need for expensive toys or electronics. The family members look like a real family, with multiple ages, body shapes, and abilities depicted.

I love that not one person is seen on a cell phone or watching TV or using a computer. Even the boxes being packed are labeled “books” and “art stuff” and “board games.” Not a screen in sight, even before they leave the city. The little girl narrator draws what she sees on the trip instead of taking photos with a phone.

READ-ALOUD USE

While I would definitely buy this book for the library, I don’t think I would personally use this as a read-aloud.

The family depicted here is ideal, but it is (sadly) not typical. I know many, probably most, children do not have large, harmonious families nearby. I would have been one of those kids myself, and I think this book, for all its joy and play and beautiful pictures, might have made me sad as a kid.

It’s hard enough to be a lonely kid, and there will be many students whose families are nowhere near as happy as this one is.

I’m not suggesting we stop reading books about families in storytime. But this book focuses mainly on the joy and excitement of family togetherness. There is no conflict. This large, happy family plays well together and gets along. Every person in the images is smiling and happy. No one is angry or crying or left out. Everyone is participating.

This is such a great family – don’t we all want a family like this? – but it is not the norm in my experience. It’s more like an ideal that we may see on social media and compare ourselves to. I think for a read-aloud, I’d prefer a messy, chaotic family that argues and has struggles.

DIVERSITY

The elementary-age, female narrator, her mother, and all family members are presumably indigenous Americans. The reservation where the family lives in the Cherokee Nation, as can be seen written on a sign on the road trip map.

ARTWORK/ILLUSTRATIONS

Stunning! There are lots of rich pinks, greens, and browns, especially as the narrator and her mother get closer to the Cherokee Nation.

Illustrator Michaela Goade won the Caldecott Medal in 2021 for We Are Water Protectors and a Caldecott Honor in 2023 for Berry Song. She also illustrated Remember, which I also included on my Caldecott predictions list for 2024. Remember did not win a Caldecott, but it did win an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor in 2024.

THINGS TO NOTICE IN THE BEING HOME ILLUSTRATIONS

Books with top-tier illustrations like this often have details to notice in the backgrounds. Challenge your students to notice or find fun details, such as:

• images from the city are sharp-edged triangles and rectangles
• in the city, most circle shapes are nature (trees, bushes, flowers) – even a window that appears to be a circle shape is actually made up with edges when it’s zoomed in on the next page
• the swing in the city is a rectangle; in the country, it’s a circle (tire swing)
• in the city, car horns are beeping, as indicated by diagonal lines
• one moving box has a misspelled (but corrected) label
• once the family leaves the city, images become softer and less-defined, with lots of birds, flowers, and natural greenery.
• More circles appear in the country – the sun, the moon, water waves, the tire swing, bushes, leaves, the pink rug at the barbecue. According to this page, circles are a symbol of unity and togetherness for Cherokee people.
• the indigenous artwork that makes up the sun
• the birds that appear on most pages – birds are an important symbol in Cherokee culture
• the road sign for the Cherokee Nation on the road trip map page
• the two dogs meeting at the family barbecue
• the different body sizes and ages of the family members
• one family member uses a wheelchair
• when the family is moving in, the dog is carrying his own “moving” item (a rope toy in his mouth)
• the squirrel running off the table at the family barbecue – easy to miss! Look at the bottom of the page, between the pink lemonade and the word “Done!”
• also at the family barbecue, the two cats stretching out in the moving boxes
• I count 8 animals on the page with the tire swing. Do the students see all 8?
• the game some of the kids are playing on the tire swing page (hide and go seek)

LIBRARIANS WILL WANT TO KNOW

Would adults like this book? Yes, I think adults will love the illustrations and the idea of getting out of the city and closer to nature and family.

Would I buy this for my high school library? No, it’s too young for HS libraries. English teachers might be able to use it to introduce themes of home, family, or getting back to nature, but it’s kind of a stretch for actual classroom use.

Would I buy this for my middle school library? No, same reasons as high school.

Would I buy this for my elementary school library? YES! Illustrations are gorgeous and are great for helping students notice details in the artwork. The story is sweet and joyous, but I would not personally use it as a read-aloud (reasons stated above).

MATURE CONTENT

No content concerns for elementary.