The Heart of Our Home by Janelle Washington

• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
• Publication Date: March 24, 2026
• Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley
• ISBN: 9781250357366

Gather around the kitchen table in this tribute to the room that is at the center of a Black American family. Morning starts with breakfast at the table. After school it is card games and baking treats. Dinnertime comes with setting the table more formally. It’s a place to spend time and be creative. A place to clean fish for the weekly fish fry. It’s a place for serious talks if someone gets in trouble. Friends are welcome at the table and many family celebrations happen there. On wash day, the table holds hair clips and bands right at hand. It’s a place to listen to grandparents and celebrate ancestors. A place to grieve when needed. A kitchen table is so many things to a family.

Washington offers a poetic look at a specific family gathering around their kitchen table. I love how she incorporates elements that are specific to the Black experience, such as wash day and Kwanzaa while also offering many experiences that are universal: meals, celebrations, grief. Her poetic lines capture the dance of the days and the full lives of families. As a Caldecott honoree, her art is exceptional. Using cut paper, she creates art that feels almost like stained glass. Yet the lines also manage to beautifully capture the emotions on her character’s faces. 

Welcome to the kitchen table. Appropriate for ages 4-7.

When We Were Snails by Nan Cao

• Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
• Publication Date: March 31, 2026
• Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley
• ISBN: 9798217028283

A little girl has grown up traveling with her mother from place to place. They were like snails, carrying their homes on their backs through their adventures. But then one day, her mother has to take a job in a bigger city and leaves the girl with her grandparents. The little girl missed her mother terribly, especially when she wasn’t able to come home as she had promised. When her mother finally came home again, it was wonderful. But then her mother had to go away for another job. This time though, the girl got to come too. They continued moving from place to place, new school to new school, together. 

Cao captures the emotions of a child having to be left behind by a beloved single parent. Though her grandparents are loving and kind, it’s not the same. The emotions that Cao shares so beautifully on the page will resonate with children who may not have cried even though their feelings were deep and tragic. Children who have grown up in families that move a lot will find themselves reflected here with warmth. The illustrations are filled with art and family, sharing the coldness of being left and the flexibility of moving often through lines and structure. 

A charming look at an adventurous life. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Where They Gather by Teresa Rodriguez, illustrated by Jamiel Law 

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication Date: February 24, 2026
• Reviewed from copy provided by publisher
• ISBN: 9781665957816

This is the poetic story of a family that built a home after Emancipation. On that land they planted roots themselves and also planted a pecan tree. That tree was the place they gathered in times of joy like playing together as children and at weddings. In autumn, the tree provided pecans to eat and sell. But times were not always happy. The tree was damaged, just like the family it sheltered. And just like that family, the tree regrew. The house was rebuilt and the family spoke up for change. They still gather under that tree, the symbol of them rising again. 

Rodriguez and Law use both poetry and illustrations to fully tell the story of the family and its tree. The poetry is kept spare and clear, sharing a focus on seasons and resilience against them. Meanwhile, as the seasons change in the illustrations so do the lives of the family. Winter in the illustrations comes with a fire set on purpose and the loss of the grandfather in the family as well as the house. Then comes political action, marching for civil rights and new hope for the land and its people. Very powerfully posed together.

A powerful look at resilience, civil rights and the Black American experience.

While We’re Here by Anne Wynter, illustrated by Micha Archer

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication Date: March 24, 2026
• Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley
• ISBN: 9780063238299

A mother and daughter hurry to get their jackets on and catch the train. Along the way a shoe is lost and found again. They reach a large park and head to where they need to be. But when they get there, the party was yesterday! Now they have lots of time, and while they are in the park why not roll down some hills, stroll past the pond, walk the trails, and sit under the trees together. They have nowhere else to be.

Written in brief and bouncy pairs of lines, this picture book is incredibly inviting for the youngest readers. I love the mistake at the center of the book and while it is disappointing to miss a party, the book emphasizes that this sudden treasure of time is not to be wasted but savored together. The illustrations by Archer are done in inks, layered paper and handstamped papers. She uses paper like paint, offering detailed textures that invite readers to slow down and look more closely.

A book worth spending extra time with. Appropriate for ages 2-4.