Going Down Home With Daddy
by Kelly Starling Lyons ill Daniel Minter
"Mighty!" we roar back.
It's time for the annual family reunion. Lil’ Alan along with dad, mom, and sister pile into the family car and head off for a weekend with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and "more cousins than I can count." They meet at the home place, where great- grandma Granny lives. The weekend is spent swapping stories, touring the family's land on a John Deere tractor, worshiping, and feasting on traditional "love-made” food. It’s a joyous gathering. Young Alan worries: what can he share at the night's final celebration? He can't sing or recite. He didn't create anything. What will he do? Daddy advises, "Think with your heart." He becomes aware of the connection that family members share with the land. These feelings sink deep into his heart. Eventually Lil’ Alan realizes he has something special to share. |
They dreamed on this land as they made a way out of no way...
While Lil' Alan and his father travel through the family's land, the colors become warm reds, yellows, greens. Minter artfully uses outlined linear patterns of cotton, family trees, pecans, and leaves motifs to reinforce the important of the family's agrarian roots.
Heart to heart, we share what we're thankful for.