We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past

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We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past was writtenby Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Diane Greenseid. Jacqueline Woodson used to say she’d be a teacher or a lawyer or a hairdresser when she grew up but even as she said these things, she knew what made her happiest was writing. She wrote on everything and everywhere. She remember her uncle catching her writing her name in graffiti on the side of a building. She wrote on paper bags and her shoes and denim binders. She chalked stories across sidewalks and penciled tiny tales in notebook margins. She loved and still love watching words flower into sentences and sentences blossom into stories.[1]

Summary

This is a fun story about a family that was having a picnic with lots and lots of delicious food. Together with her grandmother, Teeka was meeting up with their entire family at a park on a Sunday for a family gathering. Everyone brought something good to eat for the picnic. Grandma made her special fried chicken and biscuits. There was yam and potato salad, sweet potato pie made by Mr.Pete, cookies, melon, and even homemade ice cream. The illustrations by Diane Greenseid made the picnic scenes even more vibrant and lovely. Every member of the family shows up to the picnic. [2]

Pros

Jason Brinley who rated this book five stars explained the reason why is this book is so brilliant. She described that Jacqueline Woodson's We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past is a delightful children's picture book about a little African American girl and her grandmother who are going to a picnic. Woodson and Diane Greenseid, the illustrator, have brilliantly created a story that humorously captures the personalities and culture of a segment of the black community. Their illustrations and text are so one with each other that they make this book such an enjoyable read. This book captures the fun and free-spirited nature found within black communities and in their churches. Teachers can use this book to discuss with children similarities and differences regarding cultures. This book can be used as a creative arts lesson where students can draw a picture of a family picnic, or a picnic with friends, and show the comical ways that their relatives sometimes act and dress and talk.[1]

According to Jessica, a book reviewer, she mentioned that she loved this book for many reasons. First, it was a representation of the African American culture. All of the characters in the story were African American, and the text that were used were colloquial of this culture. This was a good book to use to make students aware of the diversity within our world. Next, the character in the story was showing her relationship with each of her family members. She talked about her grandma, Auntie Martha, and even Paulette. The grandma explained that Paulette wasn’t directly related, but she was still family. This could help show that all families were made up of different dynamics. This story also talked about food that was eaten at the picnic such as pie, fried chicken, sweet potatoes and cake. This was a great gateway to talking about how different families share different foods as tradition. The big idea of this story was that all families had their different dynamics, but they were still a family. This family in the story was talking about how some people were too arrogant, or others can’t bake. But they would still get together and put on a fantastic picnic to share laughs and memories.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past. goodreads.com. Retrieved January 28th, 2021
  2. 2.0 2.1 We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past. librarything.com. Retrieved January 28th, 2021