Coming on Home Soon, Jacqueline Woodson
Coming on Home Soon, Jacqueline Woodson
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Coming on Home Soon

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Narrator: Jacqueline Woodson

Unabridged: 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/12/2026


Synopsis

Ada Ruth's mama must go away to Chicago to work, leaving Ada Ruth and Grandma behind. It's war time, and women are needed to fill the men's jobs. As winter sets in, Ada Ruth and her grandma keep up their daily routine, missing Mama all the time. They find strength in each other, and a stray kitten even arrives one day to keep them company, but nothing can fill the hole Mama left. Every day they wait, watching for the letter that says Mama will be coming on home soon. Set during World War II, Coming On Home Soon has a timeless quality that will appeal to all who wait and hope.

About The Author

Jacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the recipient of a 2023 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018–2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult books Red at the Bone, a New York Times bestseller, and Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include Coretta Scott King Award winner Before the Ever After; New York Times bestsellers The Day You Begin and Harbor Me; The Other Side, Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle's Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and a two-time winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.E. B. Lewis has illustrated more than fifty picture books, including Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Talkin' About Bessie (by Nikki Grimes) and Caldecott Honor winner Coming On Home Soon (by Jacqueline Woodson). He taught art in public schools for twelve years, and currently teaches at the University of Arts in Philadelphia. He lives in Folsom, New Jersey.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Calista on August 01, 2019

This is a beautiful poem. A young girl waits for her mama to come back home during the winter. She is living with her grandma after her mom has gone to Chicago to make some money during the war, I’m assuming WWII, but it doesn’t say. Life goes on, but she misses her mama. The artwork is a little fuz......more

Goodreads review by Karen on December 07, 2014

The American home front during World War II is the setting for this gentle tale of a girl and her grandmother making do at home while loved ones serve far away. Luminous and comforting illustrations and a spare just-right text that suggests many things while never belaboring the points of loneliness......more

Goodreads review by Jenny on July 19, 2017

Jacqueline Woodson is now one of my new favorite authors. Coming on Home Soon offers so many opportunities for making predictions, inferences, and wonderful discussions.......more

Goodreads review by Tatiana on June 23, 2017

During World War II, women took the jobs that men held before signing up or being drafted into the war. Ada Ruth's mama finds just such a job in Chicago, which means she has to leave her daughter behind with Grandma. The days are ordinary but hold an emptiness that only Ada Ruth's mama can fill. Fin......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on January 17, 2009

A simple plot, sparingly yet evocatively told by Jacqueline Woodson, with E.B. Lewis’s beautiful, muted watercolors adding another level to the loneliness and restrained emotions of the text. “They’re hiring colored woman in Chicago since all the men are off fighting the war.” Then Ada Ruth’s mother......more


Quotes

* "Woodson and Lewis tell a moving historical story of longing and separation. [The] period and place are wonderfully specific; the yearning is timeless."Booklist, starred review

* "Perfectly matched words and illustrations masterfully bring to life all the emotions that the girl is experiencing as she, her grandmother, and a stray kitten that has come to stay all try to comfort and console one another."School Library Journal, starred review


Awards

  • ALA Notable Book
  • Booklist Editor's Choice
  • Caldecott Honor Book