On the Shelf
Our World Is a Family
By Miry Whitehill, Jennifer Jackson with illustrations by Nomar Perez
Sourcebooks Explore: $18
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Most of the recent bestselling books that came out around Valentine’s Day were, unsurprisingly, about love. Or about hockey. But one book, published more than four years ago but arriving again June 19 as a reprint, not only broke the top 10 in picture books, but also charted just above “Heated Rivalry” in overall online sales — coming in at No. 10 to the steamy ice romance’s No. 11. That book is: “Our World Is a Family: Our Community Can Change The World.” It’s a children’s book, also about love, but not about romantic love. Instead, it’s about welcoming refugees and immigrants into our communities. It doesn’t use those words, because “Our World Is A Family” is a children’s story, written in plain language, with bright colors.
“When we see someone new in our neighborhood,” the book asks, “how can we help them feel safe and loved and important? How can we tell them you’re not alone?”
Ten years ago, co-author Miry Whitehill started helping refugee families resettle in the U.S. in Southern California. As a single mother in Los Angeles, she had to take her young children around with her while her work evolved into a full-fledged nonprofit called Miry’s List. And she wanted to talk with her kids about what she was doing. “I didn’t want to shield them from this reality,” Whitehill says. “They needed to understand why it was important to visit these families.”
So in 2019, when the Los Angeles-based writer Jennifer Jackson reached out to ask Whitehill what Miry’s List would look like encapsulated in a children’s book, Whitehill felt like she had been practicing her answer for years. “My oldest would ask me, how come their house looks so different?” Whitehill says. “How come he doesn’t have a bed, and I do?” She found age-appropriate ways to explain. Her son’s new friends had been forced to leave everything behind, so now, it was important to let them pick any stuffy they wanted from the neighbors’ toy drive. Jackson took Whitehill’s ideas and structured them into a storybook. Illustrator Nomar Perez imagined the lush visuals. The book came out in 2022, and it did well at the time, but it didn’t chart.
“Our World Is a Family” at Burbank’s Buena Vista Library.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“Our World” sold at a steady but slower pace until the end of February. Then, BookTok influencer Maya Le Espiritu included it in a roundup of books on the theme of raising revolutionary kids. A week later, with the discount price on the book down below $2, Espiritu featured “Our World Is a Family” in a post by itself: “This is the book to read and share to raise inclusive children who understand that no human being could ever be illegal.” She told her followers, “Let’s make it a bestseller!”
Books almost never make the bestseller lists if they don’t chart upon release. But with ICE activity making so many communities feel unsafe, the book seems to have tapped into a deep vein of relevance. Within hours of the viral post, people on Instagram were saying the book was sold out online. Within a couple of weeks, it was No. 9 on the New York Times bestsellers list. The publisher, which luckily had put out enough stock to meet the bestselling demand, said the book had its best week ever at the end of February.
Heather Moore is the executive director of impact publishing for “Our World Is A Family” publisher Sourcebooks Kids. “Books change lives,” said Moore. “We’re very intentional about every book we publish. We wanted to be sure that we were on the kids’ side.”
Authors Jennifer Jackson and Miry Whitehill.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Some online commenters take careful note of the mild language in “Our World Is a Family,” or explicitly praise its lack of politics. But the underlying topic is hardly apolitical. Before the latest U.S. war in the Middle East, the UN Refugee Agency reported over 117.3 million displaced people worldwide in 2025. These are people fleeing persecution, conflict and violence, a number that is perhaps more trans-political than partisan, cutting across issues and nations. In any case, the book’s power comes from a simple but stark truth, one that lies beneath the policy recommendations and legal terms: Sometimes, “there are places in the world where it stops being safe for people to live.”
Perez’s illustrations show kids huddling on a boat, or stuck inside with their soccer balls, or waving at other kids across the way. Are they stuck inside because of a pandemic, or fleeing violent conflict, or a drought? All of the above? The book doesn’t name the big, historic forces. It just provides a gentle, revolutionary reminder: Almost any parent of any child would climb into that boat if they believed it was their best chance at safety. And when those families arrive in your neighborhood, simple words and simple acts can mean the world to them.
Chihara is a writer, editor, professor and mother who feels lucky to live in the beautiful and contested city of Los Angeles.
