We Could Fly

In a companion to Build a House, Rhiannon Giddens—Grammy Award winner and cofounder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops—gives wing to a moving tale of grace and transcendence, with acclaimed artist Briana Mukodiri Uchendu.

At a sparrow’s urging, a young girl feels a mysterious trembling in her arms, a lightness in her feet, a longing to be free. Her mother tells her that her Granny Liza experienced the same, as did many of their people before her. Perhaps it’s time, Mama says, to slip the bonds of earth and join the journey started long ago. To hold each other tight and rise. Drawing on lyrics from the song “We Could Fly” by Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell, which in turn draw on a heritage of African folklore, this incantatory dialogue between a mother and daughter paired with startlingly beautiful illustrations celebrates love, resilience, and the spiritual power of the “old-time ways”—tradition and shared cultural memory—to sustain and uplift.

Rhiannon Giddens cofounded the Grammy Award–winning Carolina Chocolate Drops and the Black female supergroup Our Native Daughters. She is the recipient of a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album for her collaboration with Francesco Turrisi on They’re Calling Me Home, and she has been nominated for additional Grammys as a soloist and collaborator. A musician, singer, songwriter, actor, librettist, and MacArthur Fellow, her many roles and honors include serving as artistic director at Silkroad and performing for the Obamas at the White House. The author of Build a House, illustrated by Monica Mikai, Rhiannon Giddens lives in Ireland.

Briana Mukodiri Uchendu is an illustrator, visual development artist, and first-generation Nigerian-American. Her new and forthcoming books include The Talk by Newbery Honor winner Alicia D. Williams, Soul Step by New York Times best-selling author Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams, and Night Market by Seina Wedlick. Briana Mukodiri Uchendu lives in Houston, Texas.