City Summer, Country Summer

By: Kiese Laymon

Narrated by: Samuel Eubanks

A lyrical audiobook from the award-winning author of Heavy, about three Black boys who form a deep connection during a transformative summer trip down South to visit family.

On the ground of that garden, covered in vegetables and dirt, coated in laughter, I want to say that the Mississippi and New York in our Black boy bodies were indistinguishable.

Three Black boys spend one special summer exploring the Mississippi woods and woulds and coulds of sharing the kind of freeing friendship that is love.

Watched over and given space to discover by Grandmama and Mama Lara, New York, Country, and little C find camaraderie in their contrasts and all the unspoken things between them while playing games of marco polo in the thick garden and sledding on cardboard by the underpass.

With prose brimming with love by award-winning author Kiese Laymon, City Summer, Country Summer illuminates the tenuous and tender bonds of friendship Black boys forge with one another.

Critic reviews

Praise for City Summer, Country Summer by Kiese Laymon; illustrated by Alexis Franklin:

A 2026 Coretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor Book
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Book Riot, The Bitter Southerner, Evanston Public Library, BookPage, Kirkus, Children’s Book Review


★ “A heartfelt, elegantly wrought, and triumphant tribute to Black boy kinship. On the sunny porches of their grandmothers’ neighboring houses and in the cool shadows of the surrounding woods, hesitation becomes tenderness, anxiety becomes laughter, and difference becomes safeness. Franklin’s digital paintings set realistic depictions of Black boys within the hazy fantasy of summer, emphasizing evocative facial expressions and using spreads filled with natural, liminal spaces to insulate their growing bond.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ “An exquisite, beautiful picture book that tells a complex story about Black boys from different backgrounds sharing a summer together...Laymon perfectly captures the myriad feelings…[Franklin’s illustrations] have a cinematic quality that enlivens the action and deepens the emotions at play.” —BookPage, starred review

★ “Author and illustrator, one working with a spare palette of barely expressed emotions, and one creating nakedly realistic, beautiful scenes of boyhood, deliver a story of bonding that is so very much greater than the sum of its parts.” —School Library Journal, starred review

"Laymon’s text is lyrical and specific…Franklin’s digital illustrations…clearly centers each emotion the boys experience…deeply moving…reveling as it does in the tender bonds of Black boy friendship." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Lovely…and poignant” —Michel Martin, NPR’s Morning Edition

“The perfect summer picture book.” —Betsy Bird, School Library Journal Fuse 8 Blog