Finding your roots can be such a complicated thing. Amara has never visited New York City, where her father grew up, and there’s nothing she wants more than to go meet her father’s family and get to know them. What’s even more intriguing is that even before she goes, she learns tiny things like the fact that her Grandma Grace died on the day Amara was born. Or the fact that her father hasn’t spoken to his father for twelve years. Could she have had something to do with that?
Amara manages to convince her mother to let her embark on a journey to New York City with her father, and she has more than one project to do while she’s there. For one, she must find out about her family both because she really wants to and because of a school project. For another, she must ensure that her father and her Grandpa Earl spend some time with each other and work through their differences.
Some Places More Than Others by Renée Watson is a lovely book about family and belonging. As Amara learns about her family, she also learns about all the different parts of herself and where they come from. A gentle story about finding yourself and discovering family love, it is a sweet, inspiring book that left me with a smile on my face and a metaphorical suitcase full of ideas for conversations, stories, poems and more.
| Title | Some Places More than Others |
| Author | Renée Watson |
| Tags | Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4 |
| Ages | 10+ |
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