I had the pleasure of hearing the author of today’s Perfect Picture Book read it aloud and discuss its publication journey in a recent 12 x 12 book chat. I knew I had to share it with you!
Title: When We Go Home
Written By: Heather Beaumont
Illustrated By: Nátali de Mello
Publisher/Date: Kids Can Press/2026
Suitable for Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: family, Jamaica, travel, home, culture, intergenerational
Opening:
“There it is!” Mom points on the map.
“I’m excited to go back home to see everyone,” Dad says.
“Not my home,” I say.
“Not my home,” Nile copies.
Brief Synopsis: When young Marlee and her family travel to Jamaica to visit relatives, Marlee learns that even a place she has never visited can feel like home.
Links to Resources:
· Learn more about Jamaica, the birthplace of Marlee’s parents and home of her extended family;
· Were your parents or other relatives born in another city, state, province, or country? Ask them to describe it to you. How is it the same, how does it differ from your home?
Why I Like this Book:
With lyrical language, the repetition of “when we go home,” and gorgeous depictions of Jamaica, Beaumont and de Mello explore how “one person can have two different home countries.”
As the story begins, Mom and Dad excitedly share that the family is traveling “home” to visit relatives in Jamaica. But young Marlee doesn’t feel like a place she has never visited can feel like home.
After the family arrives and Marlee meets her extended family in person and experiences the sights, sounds, and scents of her parents’ home island, she, too, begins to feel part of that extended family and to relish Jamaican culture.
As someone who has raised kids in a different country, including one born there, and as someone with young bi-lingual grandkids, I appreciate the exploration of multicultural families and the navigation of two very distinct places and cultures.
But even if your family doesn’t call two places “home,” I heartily recommend When We Go Home as a way to understand those with roots in two places and as a way to understand how the lives of our older extended family members may differ from ours, even if they’ve lived in our hometowns their entire lives.
A Note about Craft:
From using first-person point-of-view and present tense, to jumping right into the heart of the issue by beginning with dialogue, Beaumont engages readers at the get-go, helping us empathize with Marlee as she visits her parents’ home island and learns to love the extended family and culture she discovers there.
This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!
Wander, Ponder, Write 