(3) K-3 Illustrated by TeMika Grooms. A Black girl recounts her first meeting with her great-grandmother Caroline at her one-hundredth birthday celebration, where she learns heartfelt lessons about patience, determination, and faith as they skip stones together. The warm first-person narration captures a child’s wonder and curiosity about aging and family connections. Softly colored digital illustrations depict a peaceful rural setting, enhancing the story’s gentle, reflective tone. This tender intergenerational tale celebrates love, resilience, and the quiet magic of shared moments.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(3) K-3 Illustrated by TeMika Grooms. In the 1980s, Jamaican Canadian Nikki, her siblings, and their parents drive from Toronto to New York for Uncle Travis’s wedding. Nikki traces their journey in a road atlas, reflecting on the places that connect her bloodline. After a missed turn, Nikki’s confident map-reading helps them reach Grandma’s house on time. The realist digital illustrations use multiple perspectives, saving the story’s confined automobile setting from monotony. This nostalgic story highlights Black girl brilliance and diasporic identity.

Reviewer: Summer Edward