"I Contain Multitudes:" Where Are You From? by by Yamile Saied Mendez

"WHERE ARE YOU FROM?" THEY ASK.

"I'M FROM HERE," I SAY.

"NO, WHERE ARE YOU REALLY FROM?" THEY INSIST.

The little girl is confused, so she decides to ask her grandfather. He knows everything.

He begins with his homeland, the Pampas of South America. Her abuelo described the Pampas of Argentina, where waves of grain and grazing cattle are spread across the land, where condors fly high in the open sky.

But, he adds, she is also from the the lands beside the sea, where palm trees blow, from the land of sunshine on stone monuments and life-giving rains.

The girl is still not sure about that answer. She needs a place to say when people ask.

He places his hand over his heart.

"FROM THE LOVE OF ALL THOSE BEFORE US." HE ANSWERS.

And as in Yamile Saied Mendez' Where Are You From? (Harper, 2019), isn't that where we all come from--from planet Earth with its bounty and beauty and the human race, smart and sturdy enough to live everywhere and anywhere? From DNA studies, we now know that we are all from every place on the planet that the strength and the nurture of our ancestors took us. We are from all over and now we are here in this place together. This one is a little book that has many possibilities for learning. Says School Library Journal,"A much-needed title that is a first purchase for libraries and classrooms."