Models for Writing about Family and Eras - Picture Books Based on Family Memories or Family Stories

A bibliography prepared by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Cooney, Barbara. Hattie and the Wild Waves. New York: Viking, 1990. -- Barbara Cooney's story of her mother's childhood.

de Paola, Tomie. Nana Upstairs& Nana Downstairs. New York: Putnam, 1998. -- A story of Tomie and his childhood relationship with his grandmother and great-grandmother.

Houston, Gloria. My Great Aunt Arizona. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. -- A wonderful biography of a family member.

Howard, Elizabeth Fitzgerald. Papa Tells Chita a Story. New York: Simon& Schuster, 1995. -- A father tells his daughter a story with her help and additions of his exploits in the Spanish-American war. Based on the author's cousin Chita and Chita's father Harry S. McCard.

Lasky, Kathryn. Marven of the Great Northwoods. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, & Co., 1997. -- Kathryn Lasky's father was sent from Duluth north to a logging camp as a ten year old boy to avoid the flu epidemic. Her story tells of his finding his way in this new surrounding.

Look, Lenore. Love As Strong As Ginger. New York: Atheneum, 1999. -- This is a lovely book, a granddaughter's memories of her grandmother's work at the crab cannery. But it's really about love between grandmother and granddaughter.

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. The Finest Horse in Town. New York: HarperCollins, 1992; Purple House Press, 2003. -- A story based on my mother's great aunts who owned a dry goods store and had the finest horse in town.

Mathers, Petra. Kisses from Rosa. New York: Knopf, 1995. -- Petra Mather's recollections of being sent to live with an Aunt and family in the Black Forest when her mother was sent to a sanitarium for tuberculosis treatment.

Pittman, Helena Clare. Uncle Phil's Diner. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda, 1998. -- Ruthie and her dad are braving the snow and cold for hot blueberry pancakes at Uncle Phil's diner.

Pinkney, Gloria Jean. Back Home. New York: Dial, 1992. -- The inspiration for this story came from Gloria Pinkney's experiences of going "home" to visit relatives in the south.

Rylant, Cynthia. The Relatives Came. New York: Bradbury Press, 1985. -- Family times in the Appalachian Mountains.

Rylant, Cynthia. When I Was Young in the Mountains. Dutton, 1982. -- A view of family life in a coal miner's family in the Appalachian Mountains during the early 1950s.

Say, Allen. Grandfather's Journey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. -- A tale of immigration from Japan to America

Say, Allen. Tea with Milk. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. -- Chronicles the meeting of Say's mother (a Californian born Japanese who is a misfit in Japan) who meets a Korean man (Say's father) who prefers his tea with milk.

Yolen, Jane. Owl Moon. New York: Philomel, 1987. -- A man and his daughter spend the evening in the light of the moon, owling.