Ever since she got pregnant freshman year, Emoni Santiago's life has been about making the tough decisions — doing what has to be done for her daughter and her abuela. The one place she can let all that go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness.
Even though she dreams of working as a chef after she graduates, Emoni knows that it's not worth her time to pursue the impossible. Yet despite the rules she thinks she has to play by, once Emoni starts cooking, her only choice is to let her talent break free.
From Elizabeth Alcevedo, the New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award winning The Poet X, comes a dazzling novel in prose about a girl with talent, pride, and a drive to feed the soul that keeps her fire burning bright.
"A talented cook, Emoni balances school, work at a local burger joint, and motherhood — including shared custody with her ex-boyfriend, Tyrone — with moments in the kitchen, where her 'magical hands' create dishes that allow the eater to access deep, surprising memories. But she’s not sure what to do with her passion, or after high school, until enrolling in a culinary arts elective helps her to hone her innate cooking skills in the classroom and during a hard-won weeklong apprenticeship in Spain.... With evocative, rhythmic prose and realistically rendered relationships and tensions, Acevedo’s unvarnished depiction of young adulthood is at once universal and intensely specific." — Publishers Weekly
Recommended Age | 14 and up |
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Author | Elizabeth Acevedo |
ISBN | 006266283X |
Publication Date | May 7, 2019 |
Publisher | HarperTeen |
Language | English |