Visiting Day

Visiting Day
By: Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrated by: James E. Ransome
ISBN-13: 9780590400053

Visiting Day is a once a month occasion where this little girl and her grandmother get to visit her Dad in prison. They go through the same routines each month of taking fried chicken, cornbread, and sweet potato pie on the long bus ride upstate to visit her father in prison. Along with other families on the bus, they share the sense of hope and comfort to each other in showing they understand how exciting it is to visit your loved one, but how hard it is to leave knowing you have to wait yet another month to see them. The little girl in this text goes through the different emotional obstacles of missing her father but being reminded from her grandmother that he will be out and with them soon enough. Even though the little girls misses her father, her grandmother gives her a good home and life with giving her the hope to plan on the things they can do once her Dad returns.
The text includes an Author’s Note and Artists Note to describe their intentions of the book, and to also describe how even though this is a work of fiction, it is based on true events from the Author’s childhood.
This picture book goes through the different emotions and events of the joyful little girl’s life of the agonizing anticipation of visiting her father who is prison. It is told through her voice and perspective as she lives with her grandmother and visits her father on a monthly basis. The text focuses on the straight-forward events that the girl goes through while keeping up with the “only on visiting day” theme. The girl not only focuses on her what she goes through to prepare for this exciting day, but imagines what kind of preparation her father goes through as well. The illustrations are very realistic images that along directly with the text. Through these images it gives the reader a direct feel for what is going on through these events with the little girl and her grandmother. There are two separate pages where this is no text, it just displays the images of grandma doing the little girls hair, and them boarding the bus to go the prison. By leaving out the text I believe this is a way for the reader to just imagine the sequential events compared to having to read it piece by piece. I really liked this element because through this, words were not needed and the reader is still able to understand what is going on, just by relating to the illustrations. The illustrator also used some very bright and vivid colors to pull the reader into the book while not only concentrating on the text. I believe this the text and illustrations truly compliment each other while bringing the reader in wanting to read more about the adventures of going to visit dad on “visiting day”.
Visiting Day is an excellent read for children to identify and share the feelings of hope for anyone who has experienced or is experiencing being separated from a loved one. The element I was most keen about in this text is how the child, narrator, never placed judgment on her father or why he is in prison. This gave me the sense of showing unconditional love towards your family regardless of the situation. I believe this is a way for those who are able to relate to this book to look for at the positive things when visiting your loved one, in comparison of focusing on the negative aspects as to why he/she may be separated from you. The two major problems I had with this book is the use of some familiar stereotypes. Even though the author stated that this is based on actual events that she too experienced, and that some stereotypes may be true within different cultures, they still jumped out at me. For instance, the use of fried chicken, cornbread and sweet potato pie is more then often used when referring to African American families; and even though this may be the case I believe that making this a part of their monthly routine on visiting day made it seem a little stereotypical. Another instance is the fact that this African American girl is living with her grandmother, without a mother, having to visit her father in prison. I am not conveying the thoughts and message that these aren’t true and shouldn’t be used, but it seems like they are sometimes overused within African American texts and that if I wanted to include this in my classroom text I need to incorporate other portrayals of African Americans as well. I believe this is a book for children to be able to relate to that are going through the same situations, but not a piece of literature that I would use as a way to display African American culture. It is a book that brings up the difficult issue of separated families while using the illustrations to provide heart within the story, while also touching on the important fact of showing how the love for your family is unconditional. Overall I enjoyed the book for the message that is trying to convey, but wouldn’t use it as a piece of literature to depict the African American culture as a whole.

Visiting Day is also an insider voice piece as Jacqueline Woodson writes about her experiences of the circumstances of visiting a loved one in prison in her Author's Note. She writes about visiting her favorite uncle, and even though she never knew of what crime he committed, it didn't matter because when it was time for visiting day she went through the routines, just as in the text, with her grandmother to visit her favorite uncle. "Although Visiting Day is a work of fiction, it is based on true events from my childhood. The dad in Visiting Day is a lot like my uncle. The grandmother- alot like my own grandmother." With this author's note, I was able to truly relate the text to her own life and the different ways visiting day affected her life; thus making a more relatable piece.

Jacqueline, Woodson. Visiting Day. New York: Scholastic P, 2002.