City Summer, Country Summer

Starred review from January 15, 2025
Celebrated memoirist and novelist Laymon makes his picture-book debut with a glimpse into the friendship that springs up among three Black boys one summer in Mississippi. There's nothing like a visit to your grandmother's house--whether you're from up North like New York, who comes down to stay with his Mama Lara, or a local like Country, who with his little brother in tow is visiting his Grandmama. On the sunny porches of their grandmothers' neighboring houses and in the cool shadows of the surrounding woods, hesitation becomes tenderness, anxiety becomes laughter, and difference becomes safeness. And in the humid stillness of the garden that separates Mama Lara's and Grandmama's houses, New York's homesickness and Country's emotional wariness ease as the three friends begin to recognize the love that connects them. Laymon has set a high bar for himself and cleared it easily. A melody of lyrical prose and a rhythm of community ring out as, under the quietly powerful guidance of Black grandmothers, references to "they" slip steadily into an affirming "we." Franklin's digital paintings set realistic depictions of Black boys within the hazy fantasy of summer, emphasizing evocative facial expressions and using spreads filled with natural, liminal spaces to insulate their growing bond. A heartfelt, elegantly wrought, and triumphant tribute to Black boy kinship.(Picture book. 6-10)

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