Written by: Gwendolyn Wallace.

Illustrated by: Ashleigh Corrin.

In her grandmother’s garden, a young Black girl learns about mindfulness and herbal medicine in this soothing intergenerational story about our connection to nature.

It’s Joy’s first summer in her grandmother’s South Carolina garden — a rite of passage. In the midst of okra, spinach, and strawberries, Grammy teaches Joy that plants are friends with many uses. Herbs, for example, can be turned into medicine.

There in Grammy’s abundant backyard, Joy learns to listen for the heartbeat of the earth and connect it to her own as she takes deep breaths and puts her intentions into the soil. By the story’s end, she learns to grow seeds in her own garden, honoring all that her grandmother taught her. With sensory-rich illustrations from award-winning illustrator Ashleigh Corrin, JOY TAKES ROOT is a blissful reminder of all that might bloom. (From GoodReads.)

Recommended by Tonya Abari.