Newbery Honor author Renée Watson’s heartwarming middle-grade novel explores the past, the present, and the places we call home.
All Amara wants for her birthday is to visit her father’s family in Harlem. She can’t wait to finally meet her Grandpa Earl and cousins in person and stay in the brownstone where her father grew up. Maybe this will help her understand her family—and herself—in new ways.
But New York City is not what Amara imagined. It’s crowded, with confusing subways, suffocating sidewalks, and her father is too busy with work to spend time with her and too angry to spend time with Grandpa Earl. As she learns more about Harlem, her father, and his family history, she realizes how, in some ways more than others, she connects with him, her home, and her family.
This is a powerful story about family, the places that make us who we are, and how we find ways to connect to our history across time and distance.