In Plain Sight

In Plain Sight by Richard Jackson and Jerry Pinkney (2016) #ownvoices

Sophie lives with her parents and wheelchair bound grandfather. Every day she visits him after school and he just happens to have lost some small object that he needs Sophie to search for until—in plain sight!—there it is. On morning Sophie is about to burst into his room, but is stopped by Mama because he’s still sleeping. Sophie hatches a plan to surprise Grandpa by hiding herself in his room. The adoring relationship between the two is the heart of this wonderful story, and Grandpa’s cat is an additional element for reader’s to observe throughout the story.

Themes/topics: Grandparents, searching/looking/lost, hide and seek, days of the week, games

Sample text from two spreads

And after school each day, Sophie looks in. “Here I am, Grandpa,” she says. “How was the morning?”

“Surprising,” he says. “I had me a paperclip, you know? Nice and shiny. Now it’s vanished. Help me find it, will you, with your bright eyes?”

“Where?” says Sophie.

“That’s just it, honey. You have to look.”

If you lean in close you might hear Sophie say, “Oh.” And eventually, you might hear her say, “There!”

“Good, says Grandpa. “Thanks honey.”