With the Fire on High

When my sole complaint is down to my personal pet peeve in YA writing (3 instances of “x released a breath they didn't know they were holding” - ahhhhh your writing is so much better than that stop relying on that trite & overused phrase!!) then I have to give it the full 5 stars it deserves. Acevedo delivers exquisiteness again. Listen to the audiobook for her reading - a true treat. Sumptuous and vibrant and loving and uplifting. I'll be reading anything she writes and kids will want to, too.

With this book, Elizabeth Acevedo has solidified her position as one of my must-read authors. The Poet X was EXCELLENT, and this one is every bit as good, which is awesome, considering the wildly different formats of the two books. The Poet X was a novel in poem form, being the collected poems of a teenage girl. This book is a more traditional novel, written in prose. It loses none of the lyrical, enchanting quality of Acevedo's writing, however.

With The Fire On High centers on Emoni Santiago, a teenage mother struggling to graduate from high school on time. When a culinary arts elective is offered during her senior year of school, she takes it despite feeling like she should be spending her energy on her daughter's future instead of realizing her own dreams. The elective opens up an entire world for her, however, taking her from whipping up magic alone in her own kitchen to being recognized by talented chefs as having something special. The added hours spent on cooking begin to affect her other responsibilities, however, and Emoni struggles to balance everything in her life, a fight that is very nearly upended by the new, very cute boy who just transferred to her school.

Emoni deals admirably with the vast responsibilities of being a parent, the complications of her own somewhat unusual home life (she's been raised by her grandmother after her mother's death and her father's absence), and the pressures of high school. Especially a school where she spent freshman year pregnant. Rather luckily, her daughter's father goes to a different school, so at least she doesn't have to deal with him every day.

Similar to The Poet X, the book deals with the intersection of black American culture and Puerto Rican culture, a combination I've been seeing more and more in Young Adult. (Well, The Poet X was Dominican, but they have very similar worries, mostly revolving around feeling “not black enough.”)

I loved Emoni, I loved Malachi (the cute transfer student), I loved Abuela and Baby Girl/Emma. I even didn't mind Tyrone too much. For being a player, he was trying to do right by his daughter. Acevedo has such a talent for characters. Angelica (Emoni's best friend) and her girlfriend were a delight, too.

If you see a book by Elizabeth Acevedo, pick it up. You won't be disappointed. I can't wait to pick up her next book, which appears to be another novel in verse called Clap When You Land, due out next year!

You can find all my reviews and more at Goddess in the Stacks.

This book is beautiful. It is beautifully written. The characters are beautiful. The plot is beautiful. The cover is beautiful. Even if you take off the paper cover, the hardback cover is beautiful. By the end of the book, I teared up because it was just so beautiful.
My favorite part of the book is probably the way that everyone was really rooting for each other. Life is hard, but being a community and rooting for each other can make a huge difference.

Elizabeth Acevedo has done it again guys. She can do no wrong and anyone who disagrees and keep your opinions to yourself and let me be okay? okay.So where do I even begin? Liz's writing is beautiful, it's simple yet poetic, she really has a way with words. This book has some of my new favorite quotes like “The world is a turntable that never stops spinning; as humans we merely choose the tracks we want to sit out and the ones that inspire us to dance.”And“I'm constantly having to give people geography and history lessons on how my grandmother's hometown is 65 percent Afro–Puerto Rican, on how the majority of slaves were dropped off in the Caribbean and Latin America, on how just because our Black comes with bomba and mofongo doesn't mean it isn't valid.”That last one hit me hard. As an Afro-Latina myself I often have to explain the same thing to people.JUST BECAUSE MY BLACK COMES WITH MERENGUE AND MANGU DOESN'T MEAN IT ISN'T VALID!!!I love how this book focus's on Emoni's love life. Not only with the love interest that comes into her life. But mainly with her Daughter and her love of cooking. This is a story of family and how you're not only born into it. But, you can also find it in people you would never think of finding it. Emoni starts off with just her Daughter and Buela. And by the end of the book she grows to accept that she isn't alone in the world. That there's so many people who are willing to help and support her in the next step of her life. And that my friends is beautiful!Also can we talk about how the baby daddy is actually in the baby's life. That made me happy so see that we're breaking the “missing baby daddy” stereotypes!! Even though Emoni wants to lowkey smack him upside the head but tbh same lmao!! Tyrone isn't the best character, he says and does dumb things. But you can see that he try's his best to be in Babygirl's life, and I love that. I will link my full review here that I will post on YouTube later this month!PS: Read [b:The Poet X 33294200 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498766234s/33294200.jpg 54024746] if you haven't already hehhehe

It's Emoni's senior year, but it's not all fun and games for Emoni; she has a two-year-old, she lives with her grandmother, she works part-time, she's trying to graduate, and she doesn't know what she's going to do after she finishes high school. And then there's her daughter's dad and his parents, who aren't always supportive, and there's her own dad who hot-foots it back home to Puerto Rico after every visit. But Emoni knows what she loves, and that's her daughter and her grandmother and cooking. And this year there is a new boy in school and an elective cooking class that she really wants to take....

You can't help rooting for Emoni, with so many obstacles against her, but with a strong-girl spirit, the support of her friends and family, and her gift at cooking, you feel pretty sure she's going to push through to a good end.

oh my gosh, YES. I loved [b:The Poet X 33294200 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498766234s/33294200.jpg 54024746] so much, I was a little worried about what could possibly follow that up...but this was just as amazing. Such a moving story about food and family and making your own path! (plus also: recipes)

There's a reason I've loved Elizabeth Acevedo since I first opened The Poet X. She can reach down into the depths of your heart and squeeze so hard you feel ... everything. Emoni is such a real and relatable person and I connected with her deeply. I will never in any way be able to understand the prejudice she received due to race but when it comes to being a single mother, having to choose and make sacrifices...feeling the judgment from people who have no idea who you really are....I know that to very bottom of my soul. I lost count how many times I teared up or just outright cried. I FELT this book and highly recommend.

Elizabeth Acevedo has done it again guys. She can do no wrong and anyone who disagrees and keep your opinions to yourself and let me be okay? okay.So where do I even begin? Liz's writing is beautiful, it's simple yet poetic, she really has a way with words. This book has some of my new favorite quotes like “The world is a turntable that never stops spinning; as humans we merely choose the tracks we want to sit out and the ones that inspire us to dance.”And“I'm constantly having to give people geography and history lessons on how my grandmother's hometown is 65 percent Afro–Puerto Rican, on how the majority of slaves were dropped off in the Caribbean and Latin America, on how just because our Black comes with bomba and mofongo doesn't mean it isn't valid.”That last one hit me hard. As an Afro-Latina myself I often have to explain the same thing to people.JUST BECAUSE MY BLACK COMES WITH MERENGUE AND MANGU DOESN'T MEAN IT ISN'T VALID!!!I love how this book focus's on Emoni's love life. Not only with the love interest that comes into her life. But mainly with her Daughter and her love of cooking. This is a story of family and how you're not only born into it. But, you can also find it in people you would never think of finding it. Emoni starts off with just her Daughter and Buela. And by the end of the book she grows to accept that she isn't alone in the world. That there's so many people who are willing to help and support her in the next step of her life. And that my friends is beautiful!Also can we talk about how the baby daddy is actually in the baby's life. That made me happy so see that we're breaking the “missing baby daddy” stereotypes!! Even though Emoni wants to lowkey smack him upside the head but tbh same lmao!! Tyrone isn't the best character, he says and does dumb things. But you can see that he try's his best to be in Babygirl's life, and I love that. I will link my full review here that I will post on YouTube later this month!PS: Read [b:The Poet X 33294200 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498766234s/33294200.jpg 54024746] if you haven't already hehhehe