Some Places More Than Other by Renée Watson is a delightful middle grades novel told in the first person by the main character, 12 year old Amara Baker. The book carries Amara from her home in Beaverton, Oregon to her grandfather’s house (and her dad’s childhood home) in Harlem, New York. Through this journey, Amara learns the importance of place, family, and history — three intersecting themes that run throughout the book.

The book is written for a middle grades (or even younger) audience but it subtly grapples with intersectional themes of race and class. Amara is growing up in middle class Beaverton, Oregon. Her father works for Nike and her mom owns her own clothing boutique. The cousins she visits in Harlem struggle financially (they have never visited Oregon because plane tickets are expensive) and their father is incarcerated and has been since they were young. While these aspects of the novel give us a glimpse into the complexities of race and class, they are not the focus of the story. Amara’s biggest struggles in New York have more to do with common issues of arguing with her cousins who don’t want to “babysit” and trying to get her parents to give her a little more freedom.

Throughout the book, Amara is working on a class assignment. For the suitcase project, Amara’s teacher tells the class, “Everything and everyone tells a story.” This theme runs through the book taking Amara from her home in Beaverton, Oregon to Harlem, New York as she constructs HER story of place. A delightful surprise at the end of the book is a set of questions and activities for the suitcase project, making this a perfect book for the classroom.

Some Place More Than Others would make an excellent Read Aloud or Literature Circle book in 3rd-5th grade. Readers in the Portland area (or Harlem!) will enjoy noticing the references of place that run throughout Amara’s adventure.