A stack of books sit beside River and Oak’s bed. They rotate. They get messy. They’re read in full or bit by bit within hours. O’s fingers slowly stretch words out. River’s comprehension level remains two grades higher than her own. I don’t think I’ve ever read this much, had stories retold to me as much, and enjoyed it this much.

With all the books and stories that float through our mouths, our screens and our hands, Amazing Grace has been the one I often move to. It’s not just in it’s lesson that Black girls can be whatever they what, no matter what people say. It is not just in its message of persistence, frustration, and creativity. But in it’s ability to be so achingly familiar.

At night, when I’m squeezed in-between the kids, I can’t help but think about the seeds this book planted when it was on my sister’s shelf in the 90s. Or, how the palette of the entire book is the sweetest thing for us to see before our eyes drift off into some other world. In my home it just keeps giving to us all.

Have you read Amazing Grace? Is it on your kids’ shelves? I can’t recomend it enough.