Each morning as the sun brightens the West African sky, mother and child prepare to start their day. They spend it bound together, the child riding on the mother's back watching their world go past. Pounding millet, drawing water from the well, visiting friends, shopping at the outdoor market—days are shared in perfect step with one another. And even when the child grows big enough to go off and explore their world, the everlasting embrace endures.

Illustrated with E.B. Lewis's stunning watercolors that bring to life the land and people of Mali, Gabrielle Emanuel's tender story celebrates the universal bond between mother and child.