A Song for Two Homes

PreS-Gr 4–An unnamed Black girl must deal with myriad challenges; most difficult is her parents’ recent divorce, although she also struggles with bullying, her father’s depression, masking her own feelings, and anger about all of it. To cope, she draws on and finds truth in music, such as Bob Marley’s lyrics of “everything little thing is gonna be alright.” She also finds solace in school where she excels, with a passion for science, drawing strength from historic and noteworthy African American scientists. She is clearly loved and comforted by her parents and does her best, choosing joy through the challenges. Illustrations match the big feelings in the book with platelets dancing across a spread, a karate kick jumping off the page, and literal family tree with relative’s portraits decorating branches. A strong use of color and movement within the paintings revealing the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist, most poignantly, the image of her broken heart and body because of the divorce. Text, written in prose, is spare, lyrical and powerful such as when she writes of her comfort creature knowing “what is it’s like to the stitched back together when their tender insides are sticking out.”