Kirkus Seventeen-year-old Afro-Boricua Emoni Santiago hones her gift for cooking and makes important decisions about her future.Emoni's 'Buela says she's had a gift for cooking since she was small. Now Emoni has her own toddler, Emma ("The kind of name that doesn't tell you too much before you meet her, the way mine does"), nicknamed Babygirl. Emoni's first day of senior year at her Philadelphia high school is also Babygirl's first day of day care, leaving Emoni saddened about missing parts of her life. Emoni's a classic example of the school system's failure to harness many students' creativity and interests, but thankfully she discovers and enrolls in a new class called "Culinary Arts: Spain Immersion." Though the teacher, Chef Ayden, respects her, he's strict, and Emoni nearly drops the class, but eventually she gathers the ingredientsconnections and skillsshe'll need for success. A romance that doesn't fit the usual mold and a class trip to Spain round out this flavorful tale. Emoni occasionally breaks from first-person narration to address readers directly, and her voice and story feel fresh and contemporary. Diversity in representation is primarily racial and ethnic; however, Emoni's best friend Angelica is a lesbian. The short, precise prose chapters will draw in even reluctant readers, and the inclusion of several recipes adds to the appeal. Current pop-culture references and cultural relevance will attract both window and mirror readers. Sabroso. (Fiction. 14-adult) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book High school senior Emoni Santiago (an aspiring chef) and her two-year-old daughter live with Emoni's abuela. Emoni signs up for a culinary arts class that culminates in a trip to Spain--and she begins to see a path forward, if only she dares follow it. Acevedo creates beautifully realized characters with complex lives. A few recipes (such as "When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Verbena Tembleque") are interspersed. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

School Library Journal Gr 9 Up-The acclaimed author follows up her celebrated The Poet X with a love letter to food and a tribute to young, single mothers. Emoni Santiago is an Afro-Latinx high school senior in Philly who dreams up the most delectable concoctions, always mixing up tastes from her two cultures with a spice of her own. The news of a culinary arts course with a possible trip to Spain grabs her interest, but how will she juggle school, work, and taking care of her daughter? The young woman is barely balancing everything on her plate with the help of her talented best friend Angelica, 'Buela (her intractable grandmother), and occasional visits from her activist father (who moved to Puerto Rico after her mother's death). Acevedo populates her first prose novel with complex and unforgettable characters and turns the stereotype of "teen mom" on its head. Emoni has to deal with daycare drop-offs, custody issues, and making ends meet alongside college applications, budding romances, and the high school rumor mill. Realistic dialogue and vulnerable interior monologues about sex, loss, and insecurities will ring true with all adolescents. The author expertly weaves Spanglish, toddler mom worries, and culinary lingo and aptly evokes the Philly and Spain settings, immersing readers in Emoni's world. The novel's three parts are introduced by recipes created and perfected by the protagonist, and hints of Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate will leave teens hungry for more. VERDICT Acevedo's second serving offers a much-needed nuanced exploration of teen parenting that belongs on all shelves.-Shelley M. Diaz, BookOps: The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Publishers Weekly In this stunning sophomore novel from National Book Award and Printz winner Acevedo (The Poet X), Afro-Puerto Rican and African-American Emoni Santiago, a high school senior, lives in Philadelphia with her two-year-old daughter, Emma-nicknamed Babygirl-and paternal grandmother, 'Buela. 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. As she gains practice at leadership and fund-raising, she also cautiously develops a budding relationship with new student Malachi, a boy who respects Emoni's boundaries. Acevedo expertly develops Emoni's close female relationships, which are often conveyed through the sharing of food and recipes, and which shape and buoy Emoni's sense of her own direction and strength. With evocative, rhythmic prose and realistically rendered relationships and tensions, Acevedo's unvarnished depiction of young adulthood is at once universal and intensely specific. Ages 13-up. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Book list Acevedo has done it again: the multi-award-winning author of The Poet X (2018) here delivers perfection, from the cover art featuring a young Afro-Latina woman looking out, her curls picked up in a scarf, and kitchen staples framing her face, to Acevedo's keen, stirring prose that reads like poetry and demands to be read slowly. In a distinct, perceptive, and vulnerable first-person narrative, Emoni, a young single mom being raised by her grandmother while raising her own daughter, relates the story of her last year of high school in vignettes and short chapters, trading off between sharing bits of the story and her musings about her life and her future. Emoni has a gift for cooking, and her food, like magic, conjures emotions in people she shares it with. Her teachers, friends, and family are all ready to support her when the subject of culinary arts schooling comes up, but the one Emoni needs to learn to trust is herself. Acevedo compassionately challenges her readers with a wide variety of topics, including cultural and personal identity and the needs and desires of older women, something that is so often forgotten. Fittingly, for a book so deeply about food, she also includes Emoni's recipes. This sophomore novel is simply stunning. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Acevedo's debut won a National Book Award and the Printz Award and her many fans will be salivating for this superb follow-up.--Kristina Pino Copyright 2019 Booklist

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School Library Journal : Gr 4-8-Curious tidbits of personal information and national history combine with humorously drawn caricatures to give this tongue-in-cheek picture book a quirky appeal. "There are good things about being President and there are bad things about being President." So begins a walk through a brief history of facts, successes, oddities, and mishaps. For example, most readers won't know that William Howard Taft weighed over 300 pounds and ordered a specially made bathtub. Small's drawing of a naked Taft being lowered into a water-filled tub by means of a crane should help them remember. Another spread depicts a men's shop where Andrew Johnson (a tailor) fits Ronald Reagan (an actor) for a suit while Harry Truman (a haberdasher) stands behind the counter. While the text exposes the human side of the individuals, the office of the presidency is ultimately treated with respect and dignity. A list of presidents with terms of office, birthplace, date of birth and death, and a one-sentence summary of their accomplishments is provided. This title will add spark to any study of this popular subject.-Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools

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Book list Celebrated YA novelist Green's second nonfiction title for adults, following The Anthropocene Reviewed (2021), is a passionate book about tuberculosis, which is “listed in Guinness World Records as the oldest contagious disease.” In the last 200 years, over a billion people have died from it; between one-fourth and one-third of all living humans have been infected with it. These staggering statistics and more haunt Green's excellent book, which began with a trip to Sierra Leone in 2019 and a visit to Lakka, a tuberculosis hospital where Green met Henry Reider, a 17-year-old infected with TB. Henry becomes for readers the face of TB as Green periodically charts his condition in these pages. When Green returned home from Sierra Leone, he became obsessed with TB: “I simply could not shut up about the disease.” This important book is evidence of that. Green writes expertly of the illness’s history, causes (malnutrition, poverty, bad sanitation, etc.), and cure—and of Henry’s miraculous recovery. Insightful and extremely well and clearly written, Everything Is Tuberculosis makes what might be inaccessible accessible. In the end, Green says that his book exists only because he met Henry, and readers will be so grateful he did.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Every book from John Green is a big deal, and the important topic and global implications of this one ensure it will make major waves.

From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Kirkus A bestselling author uses his platform to tell the story of a curable disease that kills over a million people a year. In a postscript that is essentially a sweet apologia, Green explains, “If you’d told me whenThe Fault in Our Stars was published that a decade later, I’d be writing and thinking almost exclusively about tuberculosis, I would have responded, ‘Is that still a thing?’” Many readers likely remain under the same illusion. But after Green met a very sick boy named Henry Reider on a trip to Sierra Leone in 2019, he decided to apply himself to the task of learning and sharing every single thing there is to know about tuberculosis, ultimately understanding that the disease still exists due to racism, greed, and the brutal economics of public health, concluding in part that “TB is both a form and expression of injustice.” He parcels out the frightening story of what happened to Henry bit by bit through chapters that also recount the long, strange history of the disease. Once known as consumption and romanticized through association with artists and writers who died of it, for centuries TB was treated with a variety of utterly ineffective approaches in sanatoriums and elsewhere. A young American woman who had been confined in one such institution since the age of 3 was treated with some of the first doses of streptomycin when it became available in the 1940s—and emerged back into the world of the living at 16. Along with interesting accounts of historical figures and current patients, Green explores the financial aspects of treatment and the practices of the pharmaceutical industry, bringing home the shameful truth of the situation. In all, his “curious megaphone”—his phrase for the access he has to a wide audience due to his literary stardom—has been put to good use. This highly readable call to action could not be more timely. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

School Library Journal An enlightening exploration of the history and present-day reality of tuberculosis around the world. This narrative nonfiction title follows the journey of one TB patient, Henry, and his life and treatment in Sierra Leone while simultaneously shedding light on the battle against tuberculosis in impoverished countries. While tuberculosis is considered history to many, Green shares the alarming fact that due to many factors beyond the control of sufferers, over a million people die each year because they don't have access to the best possible treatments and diagnostic testing. Green skillfully sparks readers' curiosity within the first pages by discussing the number of deaths TB has caused in recent years and explains, "We know how to live in a world without tuberculosis. But we choose not to live in that world." Readers will be shocked to hear the impact TB still has around the world when in places like the U.S., most people think tuberculosis is a part of the past. Henry's story is hopeful and heartbreaking; readers will be rooting for him and his family the whole way through. The author includes much about his relationship with Henry, but also of his own life experiences with medications, OCD, and his treatment of orbital cellulitis which contributes helpful comparisons to the narrative. While medical nonfiction titles can be difficult for the average reader, Green explains ideas and terminology simply to ensure comprehension for readers. VERDICT This is a thought-provoking work and highly recommended for high school collections.—Lisa Buffi

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School Library Journal : Gr 5–8—Somewhere in contemporary Britain, "the man Jack" uses his razor-sharp knife to murder a family, but the youngest, a toddler, slips away. The boy ends up in a graveyard, where the ghostly inhabitants adopt him to keep him safe. Nobody Owens, so named because he "looks like nobody but himself," grows up among a multigenerational cast of characters from different historical periods that includes matronly Mistress Owens; ancient Roman Caius Pompeius; an opinionated young witch; a melodramatic hack poet; and Bod's beloved mentor and guardian, Silas, who is neither living nor dead and has secrets of his own. As he grows up, Bod has a series of adventures, both in and out of the graveyard, and the threat of the man Jack who continues to hunt for him is ever present. Bod's love for his graveyard family and vice versa provide the emotional center, amid suspense, spot-on humor, and delightful scene-setting. The child Bod's behavior is occasionally too precocious to be believed, and a series of puns on the name Jack render the villain a bit less frightening than he should be, though only momentarily. Aside from these small flaws, however, Gaiman has created a rich, surprising, and sometimes disturbing tale of dreams, ghouls, murderers, trickery, and family.—Megan Honig, New York Public Library

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