User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
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I don't read a lot of middle grade books, but I enjoyed Watson's contribution to the YA title, WATCH US RISE, that I really wanted to see more of her work. SOME PLACES MORE THAN OTHERS seemed like another title that would explore identity, heritage, and growing up in a positive and interesting way, delving in deeper to serious issues rather than merely scratching at the surface as so many books aimed at teens seem to do.
SOME PLACES MORE THAN OTHERS is about a twelve-year-old black girl named Amara, who lives in Beaverton, Oregon. Her father works at Nike and her mother is pregnant with her younger sister. She has one close friend, and apart from that, isn't really interested in much besides shoes and school-- and her one birthday wish: going to New York to meet her extended family.
Her father is estranged from Amara's grandfather and hasn't spoken to him for twelve years. Both of her parents are reluctant to allow the trip because of all the emotional baggage that will have to be unpacked, but Amara's incessant wheedling and her pointing out that there might not be a chance for "later" when the baby is born end up causing her parents to relent, although her mother issues a caveat that things will be awkward and that Amara should do her best to help her father and grandfather reunite-- because that's not pressure at all.
Amara is really excited to be in Harlem, which is rich in black history and black cultural heritage, as well as to meet her grandfather and her two older cousins. However, apart from her grandfather, nobody is really that thrilled to see her, and the distance and tension between her grandfather and her father is worse than Amara thought. As she gathers information about New York and her family for a class project, Amara learns many important lessons about family, forgiveness, and heritage, all while trying to navigate her place in the family, and the many shapes that love can take.
I actually liked this a lot. Amara can be a little annoying, but in that way that a lot of little kids can be annoying, which stems from ignorance and innocent selfishness, and not a lack of good writing. She's a fully fleshed-out character who feels like a real person, and Renee Watson did a great job writing like a kid. I also thought the rest of the family was really well-written, and I enjoyed how so many parts of this book felt like a love letter to black history and culture in New York. There are so many places and names mentioned, and I bet actually having been to New York makes those mentions even more satisfying-- I know for me, New York is on my bucket list of places I need to see; it's just risen even higher after reading this book, and seeing how awesome it is through Amara's eyes.
This is a great book for kids. It's got positive rep, good values, and deals with serious issues, and it doesn't condescend to its audience at all. Kids can sense that-- especially smart kids-- and I think SOME PLACES MORE THAN OTHERS will really resonate with its target audience.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! 4 stars
Rating: really liked it
Some Places More Than Others is basically the middle grade book I needed in my childhood and never had. I would’ve loved it. We have a black, female main character who is learning about her family history and what it means to be herself. And it is an absolutely fantastic book.
We have to start off with talking about the black representation which is done so well in this book. Not only do we get some moments with black hair, where Amara’s mother oils her hair, or when she discusses hair with her cousins and some hair shaming goes on… But we also get to see them eating Jamaican patties and drinking ginger beer, among other foods. We get to see a bit of church culture too. While religion is not heavy handed or very important in the book, we know they are church goers and get to see them going to different churches and laughing about pranks played when they were children in church. I liked seeing a little church culture and a lot of black culture in this book.
It always makes me happy to see education being presented as something a student is involved and inspired by. A lot of the happenings in this book are inspired by a school project that Amara gets, and it prompts her to look into her family history. It makes me happy to see education being shown in such a positive light! It then goes on to develop the theme of identity. Especially as Amara is at the age where she is growing up figuring out who she is independently to her parents.
This book heavily features parents and family ties. I loved seeing how included her mum and dad were throughout the whole novel. Her parents clearly love her, and while they have their own imperfections and learning to do, I love that they put Amara first. Extended family were also at the forefront of the novel, especially when it comes to living far from home and meeting them for the first time. I had this exact experience when I met my cousins from Jamaica for the first time (I’d never been before so it was like tapping into a realm of family I’d never had access to!) and it was such a good portrayal. Love, forgiveness and reconciliation are some important themes here. And the storyline of forgiveness and love was handled very well.
I loved seeing New York in this novel. I’ve never felt a particular pull to visit, but now I want to go there. I had no idea that New York held so much celebration for black culture and black history. I usually see this city as a grey background to popular novels, but in this one the city comes to life through Amara’s tourist eyes. It made me feel strong, proud and I would love to learn more about some of the people mentioned who I didn’t know.
I was surprised that deconstructing stereotypes surrounding gender roles was also included in this book. It was presented in a very accessible way to younger children and explained so well. I love that, because it is something that children need to learn. Another theme that was handled so well. Watson can do no wrong in this book.
Lastly, I want to mention something that has no right to be in this review and I am going to include it anyway. Amara’s grandfather is very much a focus in this book. In one scene, he is with his grandchildren and teaching them about history, and hands them a dollar for their knowledge. In that moment it reminded me of something similar my own grandfather did. With the anniversary of his passing coming up he has been on my mind more and more, and it struck a chord with my emotions. This book was a true celebration of family and love to the smallest scenes, and I want to thank Watson for writing it. My younger self would’ve been overwhelmed with happiness.
This review and others can be found on Olivia's Catastrophe: https://oliviascatastrophe.com/2019/1...
Rating: really liked it
Bookriot Giveaway win!
3.5 Stars!
Some Places More Than Others is a middle grade book so I am obviously not the target audience for this book, being as I am a 33 year old woman with no kids. Some Places More Than Others is a good book. Very simplistic but it is a middle grade book, so its perfect for the target age group.
Nine or ten year old me would have loved this book. I know I would have given it 5 stars and I would have made my mom take me to the library to get the rest of Renee Watson's books.
Recommended for 9- 13 year olds and their parents.
Rating: really liked it
Newbery alert! This one is special.
Rating: really liked it
Fantastic!
Rating: really liked it
Some Places More Than Others was a good read, but after What Momma Left Me I was slightly underwhelmed.
Momma was simple but powerful at the same time. This one was a tad simpler and a slightly less powerful. It teaches important lessons - that honesty and truth are important values, that relationships need communication to function, that parents aren't perfect. I finished this book on the tube and had to hold back tears, so there were definitely parts that I loved. But overall it did not manage to captivate me as much as her other book.
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Rating: really liked it
I took a bath and devoured this book in one sitting, which was just what I needed. This was such a deeply loveable book.
Rating: really liked it
I ADORED THIS BOOK. I shamelessly confess to tearing up many times in the second half and yearning to know my own family’s history as Amara learned hers. The need for that connection is summed up in this quote:
"I want to feel like that. Like I am connected to something, like there’s a history keeping me moving, living. Like the journey I am on has many footprints, many stories coming with me (pp. 103-104)."Renée Watson’s
Some Places More Than Others is a quiet, immersive, and resonant novel that encourages us to listen to more stories about our families. This novel inspires forgiveness, yearning for our history, and the need to maintain family (and chosen family) bonds. Most importantly, Watson’s recent release is a love letter to the city of New York!
Read my full review on my blog.
Rating: really liked it
This is an excellent story of family and friendship for modern MG readers. Nothing earth-shattering or tragic happens. It is a story about girl trying to figure out her history and family's past. She has loving parents and a great home, but like every human ever, she is searching for her place in it all and trying to discover her identity independent of them and also how she fits with them. Renée Watson does an excellent job of developing character and place as she always does.
Rating: really liked it
"...some things are intangible, and yet, you carry them with you." p.26
"I'm proud of our people, how we've survived what should have destroyed us." p.130
"...I think about how much I love words. How mighty powerful they are." p. 182
Rating: really liked it
My only complaint is I wish this had been longer! I already tweeted this, but: Renee Watson books literally nourish my soul and I’m so glad they exist for Black kids everywhere to feel that love and strength for our people and culture and our stories.
Rating: really liked it
I read this in less than a day. Nice book about family and forgiveness for middle school readers.
Rating: really liked it
Wow! What a wonderful book about family relationships, and finding out about one’s roots. I was especially impressed with the idea of “The Suitcase Project”. If this book had been around when I was homeschooling my boys, I would definitely have had them do that! I would like to do the Suitcase Project myself!😃
I will be highly recommending this book to middle-grade readers and teachers!
Rating: really liked it
Amara wants nothing more than to go to New York City with her dad for her 12th birthday. She's hoping to meet her family there and get to know the places where her father grew up. But, Amara's mom isn't keen on her daughter going. A school assignment, wherein Amara is asked to build a suitcase that gives insight into her heritage and family history, might be the catalyst to make it happen. It's not, as Amara's mother relents outside the assignment, but the assignment makes an opportunity for Amara to really learn and connect with her New York City family and heritage.
This is a book about family. Amara's father hasn't talked with his father since she was born, and Amara promises her mother that she'll see to her dad and grandfather communicating again. Why they had a falling out has never been explained to Amara, but it will become clear when they're in the city.
In addition to being a story about family, this is a love letter to Harlem. It's a love letter to the history of art, writing, and creativity in the Black community, not only as it relates to Amara and her family, but also to Harlem more broadly.
There are, of course, wonderfully 12-year-old mishaps (Amara decides she wants to go on a trip herself without telling anyone, gets on the wrong train and finds her phone battery dead, but eventually finds her way back home). I loved, too, how Amara got to meet her cousins and see how they interacted as sisters, as she herself is about to be a big sister.
There's a nice thread here, too, about privilege. Amara comes from a stable family -- upper middle class -- and seeing how her cousins live in a tiny apartment and without two parents working (their father is in jail) raises her awareness of being part of the "haves."
Watson really nails voice and this middle grade book is no difference.
Rating: really liked it
All Amara Baker wants for her twelfth birthday is to accompany her father, a Nike executive, on his next business trip to New York so she can get to know his side of the family better. Maybe she can even learn why her dad hasn't spoken to his dad since the day she was born, which also happened to be the day her father's mother, Grandma Grace, passed away. But Amara's mother, nearing the end of her pregnancy, is not willing to let her go.
Adding to Amara's desire to know that side of her family is an assignment by her teacher called the Suitcase Project. Students are expected to create a time capsule that explores their past, present and future with items that represent who they are, where they are from and what their dreams for the future are. But just when Amara gives up hope of getting to New York, her mother changes her mind and says she can go. And maybe, just maybe, while she is there, Amara can get her dad and grandpa talking so they can mend their rift.
Until arriving at her grandfather's Harlem brownstone, Amara had only spoken to Grandpa Earl, a former basketball coach, on the phone for special occasions. And although her father manages to avoid him, Grandpa Earl and Amara immediately bond. Amara is excited to see the places where her dad grew up in Harlem, and Grandpa Earl can't wait to show her his favorite places, too. No sooner does the week begin, and her dad runs into an old friend who spills the beans about her dad writing poetry in high school, something Amara didn't know about him.
Over the next few days, Amara begins to learn what happened between her dad and Grandpa Earl, even as she begins to formulate how she will present the family history she is discovering on this visit, in part by snooping, in part from Grandpa Earl talking to her and in part from being taken.
to iconic places in Harlem that represent so much of African American history, in a way she has never experienced it at home in Beaverton, Oregon.
But Amara also spends a lot of time with her cousins, Nina, 16, and Ava, 14. She and Ava don't really get along. Sightseeing for Ava is going to H&M, not visiting the murals, statues, and other places she sees all the time. After a family visit to the cemetery where Grandma Grace is buried, the tension between Amara and Ava comes to a head when Ava refuses to "babysit" her cousin again. Angry, Amara decides to make her own way to the East Village and find a place called the Nuyorican Cafe, a place, she had discovered while snooping in her dad's old bedroom, where her dad had wanted to read his poetry on open mic night when he was in high school. But when she finds herself in the Bronx at the Yankee Stadium stop on the subway, Amara realizes she's gone the wrong way. But maybe it's the right way for past hurts and anger to finally be dealt with.
Some Places More Than Others is a really well-crafted coming-of-age novel that explores who we are and how we fit into the world of family and into the wider world, past and present. For Amara, New York and her family there are a whole new world and she can't get enough of it. And everything excites her, unlike her cousins who take it all for granted, not understanding Amara's need to linger and take pictures of what she's seeing for the first time:
"...I am starting to understand by Big T is always saying there's no place like New York. No place else that constantly reminds us that we are important, they we come from a people who sacrificed and fought and protested for us to be able to walk these streets free. What is it like to be reminded of this everyday?" (pgs. 102-103) Watson's message is very clear here - do not forget who you are and where you come from.
I think that Amara is a well-intentioned, but flawed character who nevertheless really understands what her week in New York means for her life, as she says "I want to feel like...there's a history keeping me moving, living. Like the journey I am on has many footprints, may stories coming with me." (pg. 103) Her awakening is such a wonderful part of this story.
I also felt that in Watson's hands, Harlem becomes another exciting character in Amara's identity quest. She has captured all it's beauty from the quiet reverence of the Schomburg Center to the hustle and bustle of 125th Street, and the streets named for famous African Americans - Frederick Douglas Boulevard, Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, Malcolm X Boulevard, among others. And by the time you finish this novel, you will really appreciate the title of this novel.
Be sure to read Amara's poem at the end of the novel to find out what she puts in her Suitcase Project.
What would you put in a Suitcase Project?
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley
