More than half century after her family moved North to find a better life, artist Michele Wood returned to the South to see and experience the land where her ancestors lived, struggled, and thrived. In Going Back Home, Michele presents a series of paintings inspired by this personal journey. Through her complex and richly patterned art, Michele places herself back in history, imagining her ancestors’ struggles to overcome hardship through family love and community.
Michele collaborated with author Toyomi Igus to interpret her visual images and family stories. Toyomi’s moving text draws on African American history to reveal the experiences of Michele’s turn-of-the-century sharecropping family.
Michele Wood is a painter, media artist, and printmaker whose work has gained wide recognition in the United States, Canada, and Nigeria. She was commissioned to create the 1993 Black History Month series poster for the city of Atlanta. She currently lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia.
Toyomi Igus is the Editor and Publications Director at UCLA's Center for African American Studies, and the author of several books for children, including Two Mrs. Gibsons, about her mixed-race childhood. She lives with her family in Los Angeles, California.
- 1997 American Book Award
- National Parenting Publications Honor Award
- 1997 International Reading Association Notable Books for a Global Society
- Notable Books for a Global Society Choice
- 1997 Skipping Stones Book Award Winner
- 1996 Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
- 2005 California Readers, Elementary California Collection
"The detailed, full-colored illustrations are rich in symbolism and have a strong visual rhythm that sweeps the eye from pattern to pattern… readers will finish this with a sense of pleasure and feel Wood's pride as she goes back home." —Booklist
"The full-page, full-color reproductions are arrestingly beautiful and haunting… Youngsters can use Wood's stunning artwork as a starting point to explore and weave their own family tales." —School Library Journal
"A visually vibrant, factual book that's sure to appeal to children of diverse ethnicities." —Kirkus Reviews
"Going Back Home is a book to excite the eyes of children, and to lead them into discussions of history, civil rights, and social customs." —MultiCultural Review
"[Wood's] sensuous style gives hard realities such as picking cotton and pumping water a sweet dignity."
—Publishers Weekly
"[Igus] has supplied a text that amplifies and compliments Wood's brilliantly realized art." —Los Angeles Times
