City Summer, Country Summer is an exquisite, beautiful picture book that tells a complex story about Black boys from different backgrounds sharing a summer together. In Forest, Mississippi, two boys visit their Grandmama. Next door, a boy from New York has travelled to visit his Mama Lara. As author Kiese Laymon writes, “Every weekday summer morning, when Grandmama went to work at the chicken plant, we jumped off the porch of her pink shotgun house and sprinted twenty yards to Mama Lara’s tiny off-white house.” Laymon, who hails from Jackson, Mississippi, has written numerous books, including the acclaimed memoir Heavy, which won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. City Summer, Country Summer, his debut book for children, shines with wisdom and a patina of personal experience.
These three boys meet and become friends, admiring each other while also feeling cautious and curious. During one excursion, the New York visitor suddenly feels homesick, missing his baby sister and the urban landscape. Through sophisticated prose that invites empathy and discussion, Laymon perfectly captures the myriad feelings that can overwhelm children who are far away from home. The day plays out as the three boys try to understand each other and navigate their feelings, ultimately bonding as friends: “We now knew another way for Black boys in America to say I love you and I am afraid.”
Alexis Franklin’s illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to this powerfully memorable tale. She paints these three boys boldly, bringing their faces and bodies up close, making readers feel part of these encounters. Bright colors bring the pages to life—Grandmama’s pink house, one boy’s reddish shirt, the leafy green woods, the summer blue sky. These images have a cinematic quality that enlivens the action and deepens the emotions at play.
City Summer, Country Summer celebrates the unexpected freedoms and friendships of the season in a glorious yet understated way.
Source link
