Set during World War II, young Ada Ruth is saddened when she is left with her grandmother to run the home when her Mama has to go away to work a wartime job, yet the sudden friendship of a stray kitten helps keep her spirits high while she goes about her tasks and eagerly awaits the news of her mother's return. - (Baker & Taylor)
After Mama takes a job in Chicago during World War II, Ada Ruth stays with Grandma but misses her mother who loves her more than rain and snow. - (Baker & Taylor)
Ada Ruth's mama must go away to Chicago to work, leaving Ada Ruth and Grandma behind. It's war time, and women are needed to fill the men's jobs. As winter sets in, Ada Ruth and her grandma keep up their daily routine, missing Mama all the time. They find strength in each other, and a stray kitten even arrives one day to keep them company, but nothing can fill the hole Mama left. Every day they wait, watching for the letter that says Mama will be coming on home soon. Set during World War II, Coming On Home Soon has a timeless quality that will appeal to all who wait and hope. - (Penguin Putnam)
Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
Ada Ruth's mama must go away to Chicago to work, leaving Ada Ruth and Grandma behind. It's war time, and women are needed to fill the men's jobs. As winter sets in, Ada Ruth and her grandma keep up their daily routine, missing Mama all the time. They find strength in each other, and a stray kitten even arrives one day to keep them company, but nothing can fill the hole Mama left. Every day they wait, watching for the letter that says Mama will be coming on home soon. Set during World War II, Coming On Home Soon has a timeless quality that will appeal to all who wait and hope. - (Random House, Inc.)
Jacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the recipient of a 2023 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018–2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult books Red at the Bone, a New York Times bestseller, and Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include Coretta Scott King Award winner Before the Ever After; New York Times bestsellers The Day You Begin and Harbor Me; The Other Side, Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle's Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and a two-time winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
E. B. Lewis has illustrated more than fifty picture books, including Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Talkin' About Bessie (by Nikki Grimes) and Caldecott Honor winner Coming On Home Soon (by Jacqueline Woodson). He taught art in public schools for twelve years, and currently teaches at the University of Arts in Philadelphia. He lives in Folsom, New Jersey. - (Penguin Putnam)
Jacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and she received the 2018 Children's Literature Legacy Award. She is the 2014 National Book Award Winner for her New York Times bestselling memoir BROWN GIRL DREAMING, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor Award, the NAACP Image Award and the Sibert Honor Award. Woodson was recently named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. Her recent adult book, Another Brooklyn, was a National Book Award finalist. Born on February 12th in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline Woodson grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of more than two dozen award-winning books for young adults, middle graders and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include THE OTHER SIDE, EACH KINDNESS, Caldecott Honor Book COMING ON HOME SOON; Newbery Honor winners FEATHERS, SHOW WAY, and AFTER TUPAC AND D FOSTER, and MIRACLE'S BOYS—which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award and was adapted into a miniseries directed by Spike Lee. Jacqueline is also the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature, the winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and was the 2013 United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
E. B. Lewis has illustrated more than fifty picture books, including Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Talkin' About Bessie (by Nikki Grimes) and Caldecott Honor winner Coming On Home Soon (by Jacqueline Woodson). He taught art in public schools for twelve years, and currently teaches at the University of Arts in Philadelphia. He lives in Folsom, New Jersey. - (Random House, Inc.)
Booklist Reviews
/*Starred Review*/ K-Gr. 3. As in their award-winning picture book The Other Side (2001), Woodson and Lewis tell a moving historical story of longing and separation. The setting here is the home front during World War II, and Ada Ruth's mama leaves to find work in the city ("They're hiring colored women in Chicago since all the men are off fighting in the war"). At home with Grandma, Ada Ruth holds on to memories of Mama's love and writes to her. Times are hard, and for a long time "no letter or money coming." Ada Ruth takes in a stray kitten, and even though Grandma says they can't keep it, Ada Ruth does, and its purring softness is big and warm on her lap. The race, class, and gender struggle is part of the larger drama ("A colored woman working on the railroad!"), but for Ada Ruth, it's the waiting, quietly expressed in her simple, poetic first-person narrative. Lewis' beautiful watercolors establish the setting, not the South this time, but a spacious rural landscape with snow and icy storms, and inside, the loving portrayals of the women in warm, neat rooms with an empty chair. Period and place are wonderfully specific; the yearning is timeless. ((Reviewed August 2004)) Copyright 2004 Booklist Reviews.
Horn Book Guide Reviews
When Mama goes north to Chicago to earn money while the men are fighting in World War II, Ada Ruth must stay home with Grandma, trying hard to be brave. Story line here is spare; this is all about feelings and relationships, and Woodson's gently evocative words are expressively developed in Lewis's watercolors. Lewis captures both people and place with great warmth and humanity. Copyright 2005 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Horn Book Magazine Reviews
When Mama goes north to Chicago to earn money while the men are at war, Ada Ruth must stay home with Grandma, trying hard to be brave. She knows how much her mother loves her ("more than rain"), but a long time passes without word from Mama. Story line here is spare; this is all about feelings and relationships (while Ada Ruth lavishes affection on a stray kitten, Grandma holds back, warning her not to get too attached), and Woodson's gently evocative words are expressively developed in Lewis's watercolors. Lewis captures both people and place with great warmth and humanity. The rural home is plain but not stark, with each possession detailed in soft browns, perfectly in keeping with the World War II setting. At the end, when Ada Ruth and Grandma get word that Mama will be coming home soon, their faces convey through their open joy how much feeling they have been holding in. Stalwart Ada Ruth, who narrates the story in first person, and Grandma, who speaks sternly while behaving lovingly, are complex, truthfully drawn characters, and this story of waiting will mean even more to children who are themselves waiting for a parent to return home. Copyright 2004 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
In a perfect pairing with Woodson's text, Lewis manages to make his rich watercolors glow with the light of memory in a simple story of another time of war. His figures and objects fill the real space they inhabit, however, and appear fully present in our consciousness. Ada Ruth misses her mama, who has gone off to work cleaning railroad cars in Chicago. During WWII, when the men were fighting, women were needed to work-even, as Ada Ruth's mother says, colored women. When a starving kitten comes to their door, Ada's grandmother doesn't see how they can keep it, but puts down a saucer of milk just the same. The narrative is filled with quietness: as the snow falls; as Ada and Grandma wait for the mail that will bring news and money; as the kitten insinuates itself into mealtimes, skimpy or not. Longing, loneliness, pride, and doing what needs to be done shine off the pages and into the hearts of readers. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus 2004 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
The creators of The Other Side set this quietly stirring tale during an unspecified wartime (though details in the paintings suggest WWII). Ada Ruth's mother packs her suitcase in the opening full-bleed painting, explaining to her daughter, "They're hiring colored women in Chicago since all the men are off fighting in the war.... I'm gonna head on up there." Staying with her loving grandmother, the forlorn narrator continues to write to her mother, yet receives no response. Ada Ruth takes solace in her grandmother's embraces and encouragement ("Your mama's gonna be coming on home soon") and in the company of a kitten that appears at the door one snowy morning. Woodson's narrative is lyrical and spontaneous; of the kitten, Ada Ruth observes, "It's a slip of a thing. But its softness is big./ And warm as ten quilts on my lap./ Warm as Mama's hands." Lewis's lifelike, earth-toned watercolors deftly convey the sustaining affection and mutual support between Ada Ruth and her grandmother, as well as the girl's simultaneous loneliness. Well placed cameo-shaped portraits of the mother and her activities provide reassurance to readers. The story ends on a positive note: the long-awaited letter from Mama promises "I'll be coming on home soon" and a final, wordless image reveals the woman making her way through the snow to their door. Ages 5-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal Reviews
K-Gr 3-A beautifully written and illustrated story from the creators of The Other Side (Putnam, 2001), set during World War II. Ada Ruth waits for the return of her mother, who left home in search of a job. "They're hiring colored women in Chicago since all the men are off fighting in the war." Perfectly matched words and illustrations masterfully bring to life all the emotions that the girl is experiencing as she, her grandmother, and a stray kitten that has come to stay all try to comfort and console one another. As snow continues to fall, the large watercolor pages are filled with scenes of wistful longing-looking out the window, bringing in firewood, giving the kitten some milk, knitting, listening to news on the radio, and capturing the disappointment when the postman passes without stopping. Finally, a letter arrives and, with it, some much-needed money. The first line of the letter reads, "Tell Ada Ruth I'll be coming on home soon." Now, images convey a warm sense of anticipation. The final painting shows a woman with her back to readers approaching a house- home. A tender, heartfelt story that will touch readers.-Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
