2025 One Maryland One Book
Reader’s Guide – Kin: Rooted in Hope
About the Book and Author
About the Author
The daughter of a printer, Carole Boston Weatherford was practically born with ink in her blood. She began writing at age 6 and soon after saw her poems in print.
Her 80-plus books have garnered 2 NAACP Image Awards and 18 American Library Association Youth Media Awards, including a Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Award and 4 Caldecott Honors. Her career achievements have been recognized with the North Carolina Award for Literature, the Nonfiction Award from the Children’s Book Guild and induction into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.
A retired English professor, she lives in Maryland.
Photo Credit: Gerald Young
Photo Credit: Gerald Young
About the Illustrator
Jeffery Boston Weatherford was born with such distinctive hands that his grandmother predicted he would grow up to do important work. She was right!
An award-winning illustrator, Jeffery has collaborated with Carole on 3 books. He was a Romare Bearden scholar at Howard University where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. Also a performance poet and fine artist, Jeffery has performed or exhibited in the U.S., West Africa and the Middle East. He lives in North Carolina.
Author’s Statement
“Kin: Rooted in Hope is a family affair, a mother-son collaboration on a family saga dating back to colonial Maryland. Our genealogical quest led us to 1770, to Frederick Douglass, to Civil War battlefields, to villages founded by freedmen and to lore hinting at royal roots.
With poetry and art, Kin conjures the past, reclaims lost ancestral narratives and brings us to the realization that knowing your history is generational wealth.
As a Marylander, I am so proud that Kin‘s selection as the 2025 One Maryland One Book will further amplify our ancestors’ long-marginalized voices. Their story of bondage and freedom—a history shared by many African Americans—is the American story.”
-Carole Boston Weatherford
About the Book
Carole and Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s ancestors are among the founders of Maryland. Their family history there extends more than three hundred years, but as with the genealogical searches of many African Americans with roots in slavery, their family tree can only be traced back five generations before going dark. And so from scraps of history, Carole and Jeffery have conjured the voices of their kin, creating an often painful but ultimately empowering story of who their people were in a breathtaking book that is at once deeply personal yet all too universal.
Carole’s poems capture voices ranging from her ancestors to Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman to the plantation house and land itself that connects them all, and Jeffery’s evocative illustrations help carry the story from the first mention of a forebear listed as property in a 1781 ledger to he and his mother’s homegoing trip to Africa in 2016. Shaped by loss, erasure, and ultimate reclamation, this is the story of not only Carole and Jeffery’s family, but of countless other Black families in America.
General Themes
Black history, genealogy, ancestry, historical research, Maryland history, history of slavery, poetry, art, Civil War & Reconstruction.
Content Warning
While this book does not depict graphic content, racism and slavery are primary subjects in the book. Poems are an invitation to reflect on one’s self, in addition to what is written on the page. Please consider how different readers may react or sensitize these poems as they read.
I call their names:
Abram Alice Amey Arianna Antiqua
I call their names:
Isaac Jake James Jenny Jim
Every last one, property of the Lloyds,
the state’s preeminent enslavers.
Every last one, with a mind of their own
and a story that ain’t yet been told.
Till now.
Reprinted with permission from publisher
Reader’s Guide
Every year we work with educators and partners to bring you relevant information to enhance your reading of the One Maryland One Book. Here are some ways you can read along with us.
Read a welcome message from Maryland Humanities staff.
See bios, statements, and learn more about the book’s themes.
Activities in the Teacher’s Guide assist in the practice of these Maryland curricular requirements.
Prompts to guide your conversations about the book.
Activities and curricular guides arranged by subject for interdisciplinary exploration.
Related reading and other recommended resources to augment the book.
The people and organizations that helped us compile the content and resources of this guide.
We would not be able to reach all of Maryland without the continued support of our partners.