Me the other day looking at online reader copies: Nope, don’t want to read that. Not that one. Oh, I’ll save that. Okay, what do we have here? A sailor and their kid? Nope. Is there anything I want to read???? A few days later: Again, nope, nope, oh it’s that sailor again… I just read something about it…okay let’s try Goodbye, Hello: A Going Home Travel Adventure.
I expected Angela H. Dale’s book to be about a sailor who comes home to his family and YEAH we are all happy happy joy joy! Well, the family does become happy they are all together once again. But the mother and the two children fly (a very long time, with cars, stops, and much more) to the place the ship is docked. We see all sorts of families and people getting together. And we see a woman of color, in her bright white uniform hugging the child who was narrating and her wife looking on, holding the baby. Well, dang! There is a neat twist. This is a clever story about what loved ones could do to be with a sailor/their loved one who is stationed overseas. The same sex-couple is handled well by making everything normalized and simple. It just happens. There is a bit at the end about being an openly gay sailor and how that has only changed recently.
The only situation I have with things is that the illustrations were perhaps a smidgen young and cartoon-like for my personal tastes, but the color was nicely placed. Daniel Wiseman’s illustrations are a nice way to have things feel cozy and familiar. We know what it is like to go on trips, travel, and to see family when they have been away. Due in November 2024, this might work best for the five to seven crowd, one-on-one and not in a group, but it is a good modern addition to themes of today.
