On Our Way! What a Day!

JaNay Brown-Wood, PhD (JanayBrownWood.com), is an award-winning children’s author, poet, educator, and scholar. Her previous books include Jam, Too?, Imani’s Moon (winner of the NAESP Children’s Book of the Year Award), and Grandma’s Tiny House: A Counting Story! (winner of the CELI Read Aloud Book Award). She lives in Sacramento, California.Tamisha Anthony’s (TamishaAnthony) previous picture books include Seoul Food by Erin Danielle Russell, There’s No Place Like Hope by Janet Lawler, and Most Perfect You by Jazmyn Simon. Her love of educating has led her to teach for organizations such as the New-York Historical Society and Make Art That Sells and to write and illustrate a recurring column for UPPERCASE magazine. She lives in New Orleans.

* “On Gram’s birthday, six musical siblings scour the city to find the perfect gift. A bouncing, repeating rhyme follows the children like a wandering jazz solo as they search for a present for their grandmother on their way to her apartment. They find various rhythmic knickknacks on their path—a ‘scritchy-scratchy pinecone,’ ‘three jingly-jangly quarters,’ ‘some tippy-tappy pencils,’ and more—but nothing seems quite right. . . . Each child claims one of the rejected items and brings it along, recognizing potential treasure within an otherwise mundane object. A stream of musical notes trails the children as they tap, jangle, and swish all the way to their grandmother’s place. . . . Using the objects they’ve collected as makeshift instruments, the family celebrates raucously, proving that the best gift of all is love—and a catchy beat! Digital illustrations in vibrant bursts of color provide a stellar backdrop of detailed scenes that readers will pore over, with jazz posters on the walls of the family’s charming Victorian house, swirling musical notes, and expressive cartoon faces unique to each child. . . . A toe-tapping journey to Grandmother’s house that will have readers begging for an encore.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review“Six children set out with energy and excitement, crossing a city on foot and by bus to celebrate their grandmother’s birthday, in this musical telling. . . . On each spread, one of the children discovers a treasure, announcing it in an easily remembered verse formula. . . . From ‘jingly-jangly’ quarters on the bus floor to ‘tippy-tappy’ pencils from a boutique, Brown-Wood (Jam, Too?) highlights each object’s signature sound as the sonic layers build. Digital spreads peppered with music notes capture dancing movements that clearly represent rhythm as part of the journey, until the family arrives to warmth and more tunes at Gram’s house. It’s a party of a readaloud that shows how an interesting sound, its own kind of gift, can come from nearly anywhere.” —Publishers Weekly“[The] lines carry a musical quality with rhythm, repetition, and descriptive imagery. Music also plays a role in the vibrant illustrations, where musical notes, musical instruments, and references to performances are sprinkled throughout. Readers will love the lesson: at first, the kids seem as if they’re distracted from their task of getting Gram a present. It isn’t until they use their gifts together that they realize the beauty in joining to create something that none of them could have made on their own. Characters have varied skin tones, hair textures, and hairstyles; overall this becomes a glorious reminder of the diversity found in a community and in a family. This musical picture book of gift-searching grandkids will make a sweet addition to any library’s collection.” —School Library Journal