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Homegrown

by DeAnn Wiley (text) & narrated by Erin Ruth Walker
Macmillan Young Listeners. Jan. 2024. 15p. $1.99. ISBN 9781250329165.
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PreS-Gr 2–Self-taught artist Wiley makes her author/illustrator debut with a celebration of multiple generations of family bonds. Walker’s loving, reassuring, childlike voice invitingly narrates over a soft rhythmic musical soundtrack. Her warm, clear pronunciation and careful, thoughtful pacing enable an easy-to-follow read-along with the printed book, because audiences will not want to miss Wiley’s vibrant, vivacious drawings of a young Black girl discovering all the inclusive meanings of being homegrown from her mother and grandmother. Together, their extended family demonstrates the ways homegrown encompasses “homemaking,” “homemade,” “homeland,” “homework,” “home-cooked.” Affirmations are many: “It’s the moments, family, traditions and love that make us who we are.”
VERDICT Wiley and Walker’s complementary pairing creates one of the too-rare full productions that markedly augments the printed book.
Reviewed by Terry Hong , Jan 01, 2024

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