Amara wants nothing more than to spend her upcoming 12th birthday in New York City. Despite using all the arguments in her arsenal--including pointing out that her extended family lives there--her mother says no, believing that New York City is "no place for a little girl." A place for her or not, Amara wants to spend time with her New York family because she knows so little about them: she only speaks with her grandfather on the phone for special occasions; her Aunt Tracey has come to Beaverton, Ore., to visit, but Amara's family never returns the favor. Her desire to know her family better increases when she discovers that her father hasn't talked to her Grandfather Earl in 12 years, their last words spoken on the day Amara was born and her Grandma Grace died--could Amara be at fault?
Luckily, an opportunity to investigate her family arises at school in the form of "The Suitcase Project," a time-capsule assignment that requires students look into their family histories. The project sends Amara on a quest--with her mother's reluctant approval--to Harlem to reconnect with her family. Amara has two goals in mind: discover what happened in her family's past and help mend her father and grandfather's relationship.
Renée Watson (Betty Before X) perfectly encapsulates in Amara the sincere, authentic voice of a young girl struggling to form a personal identity through her family and their culture. The city comes alive as Watson's Some Places More Than Others tells a deep and emotionally rich coming-of-age story about reuniting severed ties and exploring history, ancestry and selfhood. --Tasneem Daud, blogger and booktuber, Nemo Reads