“On Saturdays, we harvest, Papa and I.” Papa is the young narrator’s grandfather. Saturdays they take Papa’s garden bounty—peppers, plums, pumpkins—along with eggs the boy gathers from the chickens to the farmer’s market in town. Papa has the last and only market stand still operating in their Black community. Papa’s movements are “slow and steady” as they work serving the people who come to buy fresh produce and eggs, like Ms. Rosa and Mr. Johnny. On the way home, they drop off a basket of plums at Mrs. Brown’s. It’s dark when they get back home, “the star-speckled sky black as only a town without streetlights could be …” The next Saturday, and the one after that, Papa is too tired to harvest and work the stand, so the boy does his best on his own, making deliveries by bike the first week, and pulling a wagon into town to open the stand on his own the second. His wagon is still heavy on the way home, but now it’s “loaded with well wishes for Papa,” a bounty of homemade food from customers—pumpkin pie, candied plums, stuffed peppers. This love letter to Black farmers and community that also acknowledges challenges is paired with distinctive illustrations created from hand stamps and digitally colored. In a moving, powerful note, the author discusses his childhood community, and the disappearance of Black farmers and rise of food desserts nationally, touching on the complicated social and political history of each.

The author of Nigel and the Moon, delivers a tender intergenerational story inspired by his childhood in the rural south. Here's a farm stand that represents the importance of family, community, and hope.

A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BOOKPAGE, and SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • WINNER: National Council of Teachers of English Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children

Every stand has a story.
This one is mine.

Saturday is for harvesting. And one little boy is excited to work alongside his Papa as they collect eggs, plums, peppers and pumpkins to sell at their stand in the farmer's market. Of course, it's more than a farmer's market. Papa knows each customer's order, from Ms. Rosa's pumpkins to Mr. Johnny's peppers. And when Papa can't make it to the stand, his community gathers around him, with dishes made of his own produce.

Heartwarming illustrations complement the lyrical text in this poignant picture book that reveals a family's pride in their work, and reminds us to harvest love and hope from those around us.