Unlike Coates but like Baldwin and Brown, Holmes’ book comes from a Christian perspective, one which is needed now more than ever. It also has elements that reminded me of Austin Channing Brown’s I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. Holmes’ book echoes other notable epistles like Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and Coates’ Between the World and Me. However, the book of letters is also written for the white evangelical church who tends to ignore the issues of race and justice. Jasmine Holmes has written a powerful collection of letters to her black son on how the world will see him and gives advice on how he should behave in this world. She invites us to read over her shoulder as she reminds Wynn that his identity is firmly planted in the person and work of Jesus Christ, even when the topic is one as emotionally charged as race in America.

Holmes deals head-on with issues ranging from discipleship and marriage to biblical justice. These are about her journey as an African American Christian, and what she wants her son to know as he grows and approaches the world as a black man. In Mother to Son, Jasmine Holmes shares a series of powerful letters to her young son.

I know this wondrous little person has the potential to change the world―and I want him to know it too.' I want to teach him that, though life's unfair, he still has incomparable value in the eyes of his heavenly Father. I know he'll grow up with stories of having been made to feel 'other' because of the color of his skin. Inquisitive, fiercely affectionate, staunchly opinionated, he sees the world through eyes of wonder and has yet to become jaded by society's cruelty. No little boy could be more loved by his parents. She invites us to read over her shoulder as she reminds Wynn that his identity is firmly planted in the person and work of Jesus Christ, even when the topic is one as emotionally charged as race in America.'Wynn is my son.

These are about her journey as an African American Christian and what she wants her son to know as he grows and approaches the world as a black man. I know this wondrous little person has the potential to change the world-and I want him to know it too.'In Mother to Son, Jasmine Holmes shares a series of powerful letters to her young son.

Christianity Today Book Award'Wynn is my son.

Mother to Son by Jasmine L. Holmes