You Are My Pride: A Love Letter from Your Motherland

Boston Weatherford’s affectionate letter from the cradle of humankind begins, “I am the mother of all humanity,/ I have a long history and a longer memory./ Most of all, I remember you,/ my offspring of all colors/ in all corners of the earth.” Continuing, the motherland (who “knew you from the first—/ when you were but a glimmer in some god’s heart”) narrates milestones of early humans from “the brink of your evolution” to bipedal motion and surviving the dangers of the wilderness. As final scenes show modern-day children of various skin tones running through a field, then zoom out to a view of the earth, text culminates in a final, ringing declaration: “Here is your home.” Lewis wields watercolor to pristine effect in depicting vast and varied landscapes. A timeline of human evolution concludes. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)