Down the Winding Road

Title: Down the Winding Road

Author: Angela Johnson

Illustrated by: Shane W. Evans

Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Publishing 2000

Genre: Multicultural, fiction picture book

Age Range: K-2

Summary: A family travels down the winding road to visit her father's aunts and uncles. They all stand in a row and look just alike. They eat and laugh the whole time. The elderly ones take the children down for a walk down the winding road. They tell the stories about each other that they know by heart. Then they swing on tire swing down by the hanging willow. The tire takes you flying over a lake. Eventually the girl and Jesse let go of the swing and fly into the lake. As sad as it is, its their last day of summer vacation and they tell the old ones goodbye.

Response: I absolutely loved this book. It reminds me of my own family reunions and how relaxing and loving it is to share stories with one another. This book is great for children to read and to learn the morals about a family and the importance of it. I highly reccomend this book for young readers. I would love to have this book on my classroom shelf. This might even be a great read aloud right before school gets out.