Back Home: Story Time with My Father

A lyrical text and vivid, luminous imagery transport readers to Haiti through a father’s tales and a child’s imagination—and invite them to tell stories of their own.

Krik! Krak!
This is how story time begins.

Lune loves hearing her daddy’s stories—the funny ones, the sad ones, the ones with lessons about truth and love. Whether evoking an ill-fated climb up a mango tree or life after a hurricane, flying over magical mountains or the healing power of a mother’s love, all of Daddy’s stories begin with “lakay”—back home—and each one ushers Lune to Haiti, her father’s homeland, a place she doesn’t know but can see, hear, and feel when she closes her eyes. Daddy is her favorite book, and sometimes she stays up late just to hear another story when he gets home from work. Everyone has stories, her mommy tells her, so Lune begins to wonder: could she have stories of her own, too? Author Arlène Elizabeth Casimir offers a love letter to her parents’ birthplace and to the ways storytelling can bring us together, illustrated in lush, enchanting colors by acclaimed artist Ken Daley. Included is a glossary and two author’s notes—one to caregivers and teachers, one to kids—providing ideas and encouragement for sharing the power of story.

Arlène Elizabeth Casimir is an educator, consultant, healer, herbalist, and writer. Back Home is her first book with Candlewick Press. She lives in Brooklyn.

Ken Daley is an artist who draws inspiration for his work from his African Caribbean roots. He is the illustrator of several picture books, including Jayden’s Impossible Garden by Mélina Mangal and Auntie Luce’s Talking Paintings by Francie Latour. He lives in Ontario, Canada.