City Summer, Country Summer

by Kiese Laymon, Alexis Franklin (Illustrator)

Overview

A lyrical picture book from the award-winning author of Heavy, about three Black boys who form a deep connection during a transformative summer trip down South to visit family.

On the ground of that garden, covered in vegetables and dirt, coated in laughter, I want to say that the Mississippi and New York in our Black boy bodies were indistinguishable.

Three Black boys spend one special summer exploring the Mississippi woods and woulds and coulds of sharing the kind of freeing friendship that is love.

Watched over and given space to discover by Grandmama and Mama Lara, New York, Country, and little C find camaraderie in their contrasts and all the unspoken things between them while playing games of marco polo in the thick garden and sledding on cardboard by the underpass.

With text brimming with love by award-winning author Kiese Laymon and deeply evocative illustrations by Alexis Franklin, City Summer, Country Summer illuminates the tenuous and tender bonds of friendship Black boys forge with one another.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593405574
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/01/2025
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Kiese Laymon is a Black Southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the author of the genre-bending novel Long Division and the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. He was also the recipient of the 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard and a MacArthur Genius grant. He currently teaches English and creative writing at Rice University.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Alexis Franklin discovered digital art in high school and embarked on a self-taught path, mastering drawing tablets and software. Her online creations quickly gained traction, attracting diverse clients who resonated deeply with her work.

Alexis has lent her talents to TIME Magazine, Apple, Sports Illustrated, O Magazine, and acclaimed New York Times bestselling authors. Drawing inspiration from classical oil paintings, she infuses her artistry with their essence, resulting in the distinctive style she is known for today.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for City Summer, Country Summer by Kiese Laymon; illustrated by Alexis Franklin:

Book Riot Best Books of the Year So Far! (2025)
The Bitter Southerner Bravest, Boldest, and Most Brilliant Books Of This Year (2025)


★ “A heartfelt, elegantly wrought, and triumphant tribute to Black boy kinship. On the sunny porches of their grandmothers’ neighboring houses and in the cool shadows of the surrounding woods, hesitation becomes tenderness, anxiety becomes laughter, and difference becomes safeness. Franklin’s digital paintings set realistic depictions of Black boys within the hazy fantasy of summer, emphasizing evocative facial expressions and using spreads filled with natural, liminal spaces to insulate their growing bond.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ “An exquisite, beautiful picture book that tells a complex story about Black boys from different backgrounds sharing a summer together...Laymon perfectly captures the myriad feelings…[Franklin’s illustrations] have a cinematic quality that enlivens the action and deepens the emotions at play.” —BookPage, starred review

Laymon’s text is lyrical and specific…Franklin’s digital illustrations…clearly centers each emotion the boys experience…deeply moving…reveling as it does in the tender bonds of Black boy friendship. — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Lovely…and poignant” —Michel Martin, NPR’s Morning Edition

From the Publisher

★ 2024-12-14
Celebrated memoirist and novelist Laymon makes his picture-book debut with a glimpse into the friendship that springs up among three Black boys one summer in Mississippi.

There’s nothing like a visit to your grandmother’s house—whether you’re from up North like New York, who comes down to stay with his Mama Lara, or a local like Country, who with his little brother in tow is visiting his Grandmama. On the sunny porches of their grandmothers’ neighboring houses and in the cool shadows of the surrounding woods, hesitation becomes tenderness, anxiety becomes laughter, and difference becomes safeness. And in the humid stillness of the garden that separates Mama Lara’s and Grandmama’s houses, New York’s homesickness and Country’s emotional wariness ease as the three friends begin to recognize the love that connects them. Laymon has set a high bar for himself and cleared it easily. A melody of lyrical prose and a rhythm of community ring out as, under the quietly powerful guidance of Black grandmothers, references to “they” slip steadily into an affirming “we.” Franklin’s digital paintings set realistic depictions of Black boys within the hazy fantasy of summer, emphasizing evocative facial expressions and using spreads filled with natural, liminal spaces to insulate their growing bond.

A heartfelt, elegantly wrought, and triumphant tribute to Black boy kinship.(Picture book. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews