The Heart of Our Home

This author-illustrator debut from Caldecott honor-winning creator Janelle Washington (Choosing Brave) is a timeless ode to one family's kitchen table: stained, scratched, and full of love.

The heart of this family's home beats steadily at the round wooden kitchen table.

Every morning, they gather around it for breakfast. In the afternoons, it's where homework gets done, and where art projects, and sometimes brownies, are made. On Fridays, it's where they prepare the fish fry.

Anniversaries, birthday parties, graduations. All are celebrated at their kitchen table.

When they tell their stories, it listens. And when they cry, it gives comfort.

Their kitchen table is a place for family, friends, and memories.

Author: Janelle Washington
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Published: 03/24/2026
Pages: 32
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 10.30h x 10.40w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9781250357366
Audience: Ages 4-8


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 01/05/2026
Booklist 02/01/2026
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2026

About the Author
Janelle Washington is a paper-cut artist, illustrator, and recipient of the Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator for illustrating Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement by Angela Joy. Janelle recently moved back to her hometown, Richmond, Virginia, where she spends time with her parents, sitting around their kitchen table. When she isn't at her childhood home, she enjoys being outside in the sun or inside, cutting her paper-cut designs. The Heart of Our Home is her authorial debut. She is a member of the Guild of American Papercutters.