I’ll be celebrating Easter today but absent of physically attending mass and not driving to get together with my extended family, I will be feasting on an Easter meal. This is in addition to preparing pierogies, babka, and hardcakes in the tradition of my Polish heritage this past weekend. Food is also one of my favorite topics to read about too. Here are several books I’ve read in the past few weeks that would be worth taking a look at if you’re one of my tribe of food-loving readers.
This fun “little book about little cakes” is exactly the cool interactive story to introduce future chefs to the kitchen with our favorite sweet treats: cupcakes. It asks the readers to shake things up and move things on the counter while reading then enjoy the feast visually with the bright colors and delicious-looking sprinkles by the end.
Moving on to an informative picture book, this one details the life of Ruth Wakefield, inventor of the chocolate chip cookie. Ford provides the three versions of how people think the cookie was created and has fun providing you with a well-rounded tale of her passion for food and how her toll house became part of the “Nestle’s Toll House Cookie” recipe stamped on each chocolate chip bag you buy.
Faruqi and Shovan are publishing A Place At the Table next month and I couldn’t be happier that this book exists. When I read it, I felt a warmth for the characters and the food that filled me up with love. Sara is Pakistani American and Elizabeth is Jewish and they both end up in the Southeast Asian cooking class run by Sara’s mother after Sara moves to the school. They befriend one another and find that their connections run a bit deeper as both of their mothers are not naturalized American citizens. But as the title implies, the girls work through typical middle grade angst by finding a place for each other at the table.
And last is an adult title that was recommended to me by a friend. While the book is over ten years old, it will resonate with those who can appreciate all the ways that food affects our lives be it romance or in mourning, friendship or solitude. It’s a series of vignettes that are all centered around Lillian’s cooking school “The School of Essential Ingredients” that she runs on Monday nights. It follows the attendees in various parts of their lives and how they all came to be together in the class. The languid storytelling is part of the appeal, like savoring a meal, and enriches the understanding. I also found myself pausing and re-reading lines that hit me to my core as a cook, baker, lover of food. As said by two participants in the class: “Here’s to kitchens. And here’s to what comes out of them.”
There you have it, four mouthwatering titles from pre-K to adult that you can enjoy when your pining for a book to capture the magic of food.
Fat Tuesday is also Paczki Day. Paczkis are Polish doughnuts usually with jelly filling and rolled in either powdered sugar or granulated sugar. They’re made on Fat Tuesday in preparation for the Lenten season’s austerity. This past Monday, I homemade them and was excited to share them with my family, colleagues, and neighbors who all know my love for baking.
Marie Lu’s Rebel, the fourth book in the Legend world that takes place in the future in which Daniel’s brother, Eden, is attending university in Antarctica where they’ve settled while June is still working in the Republic. The story, like Lu’s others, have two narrators that are differentiated by the text color as they pace the book out with the developing conflict as it switches fluidly back and forth. The world she creates is superb and the futuristic action is heart-pounding.
Monica Hesse’s yet-to-be-released They Went Left that’s anticipated for an April release. Not only have I read Hesse’s other YA historical fiction titles, but her adult nonfiction book American Fire. All showcase her skillful writing. This one fits in a newer focus of YA books on the liberation of Jews after World War II like the Morris finalist from last year, What The Night Sings by Vesper Stemper. Hesse dives into this world with Zofia, who has lost most of her family but still holds out hope that her younger brother Abek has survived. Shifting to several places before settling into a relocation camp where she meets a brooding boy, Josef, she is reunited with Abek but questions about what both boys have been through since the war broke out provide the riveting content of the book’s second half. Put this at the top of your list for April.
What works well for the series is the chronological organization of biographical information that is equal parts intrigue and straight facts. There’s a humanity in Kanefield’s delivery that does not dilute the truth, yet weaves a story of a person hellbent on creating an America that they had envisioned as they rose to notoriety.fame. With a mix of photographs and eye-catching covers, they’re as star-spangled as the flag.
And the commentary Zentner provides about life is precisely why his books are Post-it material as evidenced by my initial tweet: within the first chapter, I already earmarked a quote to return to. So while it’s hard to pick just one, a memorable quote that sets up Delia for her eventual critical decision to seek out her dad: “I’ve come to believe that everyone gets five or six perfect days in their life. Days with not a single wrong note or thorn, days that ripen like a peach in your memory as years pass. Every time you go to bite it, it’s juicy and sweet.” Won’t every reader stop and think about whether they’ve already lived a perfect day and what it was like and then savor the thought of a few more ahead of them?
I can’t, nor would I want to give away too much about the ending, but a picture is worth a thousand words and this was my Instagram post just minutes after finishing the book… a tear-stained page that other than the saccharine visit to Lawson’s house by Josie post-fight is the most memorable scene. Delia is struggling hard because abandonment seems to be a trend from people in her life and it’s the most critical one that comes through for her. Like memorable names such as Beyonce or Ruth Bader Ginsburg, you only needs to say “Dolores Darkwood” and I will be putty in your hands.
And she’s quicker to point out, not a lady doctor “No sir… I’m determined to become a doctor. The matter of my sex I would prefer to be incidental rather than an amendment.” And so relevant now as Serena Williams is set to dominate again in a major competition who has always said she wants to be remembered as the greatest tennis player of all time, not the greatest female tennis player of all time (I think most would agree). And Felicity also reminds herself and thus readers “Your beauty’s not a tax you are required to pay in order to take up space in this world… You deserve to be here,” –another timely commentary. These are just two of the memorable quotes throughout the adventure that showcase the power of a persevering attitude and interminable spirit after abandoning a weak marriage proposal from a baker (though how difficult it was to give up the sweets and escape to see Monty and Percy).
There is no greater purpose for me than when someone, anyone, approaches me to ask for a book recommendation. Be it a student, a faculty member, or my own mother. Multiply this love by one thousand when I’m asked to present to others about books and reading.
Readers Be Advised 