FAMILY FEAST!

A festive, multigenerational family gathering is rooted in soul food and familial love.

Big Ma and Pops wake early to begin preparing a meal that will bring everyone together from near and far. While Big Ma peels apples “for her famous pie,” Pops “dresses the fish to fry.” Throughout Weatherford’s lively, rhyming story, the refrain “Tastes like home when family meet; / a bond so warm, so strong, so sweet” gives the book a musical quality. The menu for this amazing dinner includes black-eyed peas, collard greens, rice and beans, candied yams, a pineapple-ringed ham, biscuits, cornbread muffins, and more. Joy abounds in each scene, and Morrison’s action-packed oil paintings offer a plethora of details for young readers to notice. During a scene where the family cooks together in the kitchen, youngsters will spot a visibly pregnant relative wearing a “Baby on Board” shirt, a matriarch removing a pot’s lid to sniff its contents, and a little one who can barely see over the counter giving Pops the side-eye as he salts the contents of a big bowl. Dog lovers will enjoy observing the beagle, ever hopeful for handouts. Morrison’s illustrations of this close-kit Black family highlight distinct personalities through creative clothing choices, different hair styles, dramatic facial expressions, and elongated limbs that suggest constant motion.

A triumphant and utterly inviting gustatory celebration.