I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

These bright colorful pictures will keep the little one interested. The story is a great tribute to family and family traditions.

This book tells about a trip to a family reunion. I love how everything is so simple. There are no future Nobel Prize winners, just regular people. It is, a word I don't use often, "heart-warming".

I received this arc from Netgalley for an honest review. This picture book is about family and finding where you belong and what makes you special. It’s a good read, but I’ll not sure where we would shelve it where it would be read.

Great book about the love of family, family history and the importance of family relationships. Lil Alan is nervous because he doesn't know what he will say at his family reunion but after spending time with his aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother the memories of his family and the history of his community he knows exactly what to say. The illustrations are warm, tender and abstract. This is a great read for early chapter book readers.

The focus here is on a child struggling to find the thing that makes him special, the one thing only he can contribute to a family event and which will be meaningful. It's equal parts inadequacy and feeling overwhelmed by how special a person and place are. THe desire to honor this relative in a meaningful way makes the narrator feel incapable. Perhaps something of a niche book.

I received an electronic ARC from Peachtree Publishing through NetGalley.
Soft focus illustrations provide the backdrop to this story of a young boy figuring out what to give his Great-Grandma at the family reunion. Hearts appear and then intertwine to create flowers and an underlying image of love on each page.
The family gathers every year at the farm to visit and remember and mostly to connect with each other. I like the image of "love-made dishes" as they eat together.
Little Alan does figure out exactly what to share with Granny when it's his turn and it ties the family heritage together.
Stresses the importance of family and remembering our roots.

The illustrations and words transported me to my memories of family reunions. The author captured the essence of family within the pages of this book. Both the words and illustrations served as a history lesson from the Adrinkra symbols to slavery and freedom. The love and respect the family has for each other can be felt through the pages. I will recommend this book to every family I know as it is an awesome bedtime story and prompts the reader to attend their family reunion.

"We are a mighty family!" Daddy booms.
​"Mighty!" we roar back.
Picture
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.
Kelly Starling Lyons' poetic text is bursting with glorious language and images. Granny, with her "peppermint kisses," fireflies that "wink and whirl in a carnival around us" offer more than sparkling descriptions. They embue the family's soul into each page.
They dreamed on this land as they made a way out of no way...
Daniel Minter's brilliant use of color is purposeful and evocative. As the family shares stories and memories, the color palette is predominantly blue, echoing grandma's favorite color. As they reminisce, family members faces stand out among the soft blue heart-shaped background patterns.
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.
Going Down Home with Daddy is a resplendent tribute to family, to the ability to do more than survive, to thrive, to build a legacy of family pride and belonging for generations to come. I love this book!

This has such a sweet and important premise, but the execution was lacking in a lot of ways for me. The art is pretty, though!

Going Home with Daddy, written by Kelly Starling Lyons and illustrated by Daniel Minter, is gorgeous.

The story unfolds from the point-of-view of a young African American boy heading to his great-grandma Granny’s for an annual family reunion. The text is heavy with emotion, but none shine as boldly as joy.

Young readers will want to slow down to enjoy the lyricism of Starling Lyons’ poetic prose. Take, for example, the simplicity of her opening line: “We leave when the sky is still dark with sleep.”

Alan, the narrator, has many conflicting emotions about the reunion and the celebration to honor Granny that is a big part of it. He’s excited to see family but sad he hasn’t come up with anything to share during the celebration.

When Alan and his family arrive, he’s greeted by grandmas and grandpas, uncles and aunts, and more cousins than he can count. All his cousins seem to have thoughtful things to share with Granny, including scrapbooks, songs, and poems.

After reflecting on his deep connection to the land and his family Alan eventually does find the perfect thing to share.

Word and text dance on the page. Minter’s illustrations are deeply textured, and he uses color to prompt mood. Dialogue drips with vernacular sounds and sayings, bringing characters to life. Descriptions of the land, food, and fun give the story a strong sense of place.

Going Home with Daddy is the perfect addition to family libraries. Whether your family has traditions that mirror Alan’s or different ones, the universality of emotions depicted can inspire us to be different together.

I liked this story. It's a bit long for story time, but one on one at bedtime or any time, really, is good. I love reading stories about family reunions. It might be a good read for then, too! I think early grade school would be a good age for the book. But any age could enjoy the read. The illustrations are wonderful and I can't wait to see the book as I am sure the color will be wonderful! Good wholesome story about a family gathering.

Interest Level: K-3

Have you ever gone to a family reunion? Family is the most important thing and in this book family is important to Lil Alan too! Lil Alan and his family drive to Granny's house to have a good time with Granny, aunts, uncles, and cousins. However, Lil Alan has one big problem - he has nothing for celebration time. His Sis is going to sing Granny's favorite song, one of his cousins is going to read a poem, another cousin made a scrapbook out of Granny's favorite color, but Lil Alan? He has nothing. The family eats, goes to church, and has a great time. Then it is celebration time. What will Lil Alan do? Will he disappoint Granny and the family? Or will he come up with something spectacular? Read this incredible book to find out what happens!

This book is absolutely fantastic! The illustrations are beautiful and the colors are incredible! The story itself is so heartwarming! I want so bad to be a part of this family and share in their love and heritage (and eat some of that scrumptiously yummy food!). Do not miss this breathtaking book about love and family!!

Going Down Home with Daddy is a lovely celebration of family and African-American culture. Lil Alan and his family travel south every year for a family reunion on his great-grandmother's land. He and his sister spend time with their cousins. Everyone eats delicious-sounding food. And it's a tradition for the children to offer some kind of gift: a song, a poem, a story. Lil Alan isn't sure what he wants to do, and as the day of the celebration approaches, he worries that he won't have anything to contribute. But when he looks around him and sees the history of the place, he comes up with a fitting tribute to his family and his history.

This is a little text-heavy for a picture book, so I would probably recommend it to older kids. That said, however, the story is simple enough for younger children to enjoy, too. The illustrations really make this book shine. The stylized drawings are combined with inky overlays to create a really unique look. Even on the pages where everything is done in monochromatic blues, I noticed that the people's irises are still brown, which I thought was a neat touch; everything about the illustrations celebrates the interesting culture and heritage of this African-American family.