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A review by lectrixnoctis
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Elizabeth Acevedo, the author of "With the Fire on High" and "The Poet X", won the "National Book Award for Young People's Literature" plus many more awards. She is a National Poetry Slam titleholder and carries an MFA in creative writing from Maryland.
In "With the Fire on High", we follow the story of Emoni Santiago, a 17-year old Afor-Latina teen mum whose passion is to cook wonders in the kitchen. Whenever people taste Emoni's food, some deep insides move them deeply. She is an aspiring chef and dreams of attending a culinary school to improve on her already high skills. However, she has to work things out before von thinking about following her passion. Her grades are not bad, but she could improve in school.
Moreover, she works at a fast food place to earn someone to help her grandmother out, who has been raising her after her mum dies in a childbed. Furthermore, she is a teen mum of a two-year-old girl called Emma, as already mentioned. This is not always easy, and Emoni always tries to be her best self and even if she cannot afford to go to culinary school, she is determined to give her Babygirl a better life.
When her school annoyed a new culinary class with a weeklong apprenticeship in Spain, she feels she has at least tried to get in. Emoni has the chance to participate, but she does not understand yet how much responsibility she has taken on; however, she stays hopeful until the end. Additionally, a new student has transferred to Emoni's high school at the beginning of the year. His name is Malachi who is quite a sensitive boy despite his sometimes dirty jokes. After a while, the pair become friends, but it will happen more and what about Tyrone, the dad of little Emma and Emoni's ex?
The story is written in the limited third-person perspective, and almost the whole plot is set in Philadelphia beside the week trip in Spain. Additionally, the novel was written in the present beside the recurring back flashes. The story was also parted into three parts with a recipe at the being of each component.
The central theme is the struggle of ten motherhood and how it can and will affect your everyday life. Emoni got pregnant at age 14 and gave birth to Emma at 15. Her boyfriend at the time, Tyrone, was only 18 years old. This situation is super complicated, and it weighs heavily on one's shoulders. Despite your body still in development, it is cratering another human being right at the same time. The author has writing The storyline of the protagonist motherhood exquisite and realistic. We follow her feelings thought the pregnancy due to flashbacks and her struggles. It is hard to be pregnant, and I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to still be in high school and Ben going to Sumer school to gain the lost credit back. Not even mention how your fellow pupils will react. This storyline was extraordinary and deserved all its praise.
However, the romance between Emoni and Malachi fell a little bit flat. I enjoyed that they were taking things slow and that Tyrone was all up in Emoni's business. Still, for me, the author could have put more emphasises on that, especially since Emoni is a mum. It was lovely to read that Malachi did not have anything against that, but it just felt a bit too quick solved in the end. Furthermore, his tragic backstory was not discussed in this book, and I found it hard to believe it was realistic.
At the end of the book, the drama between Pretty Lesley and Emoni felt a bit childish since Emoni has dealt with a lot worse, and it felt weird to over drag this little fight so much. The book was sometimes a bit dragged out.
I loved the presentation of this book: The main characters being all BIPOC and even Emoni's best friend, Angelica, being a lesbian and deeply in love with her girlfriend Laura, was just too cute. Furthermore, I enjoyed that the book touched on heavy subjects like racism or death very caring and informative.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a light and humourless story with darker tones. I found that the book was traced to a slightly younger audience and that some plotlines were more vital than others.
In "With the Fire on High", we follow the story of Emoni Santiago, a 17-year old Afor-Latina teen mum whose passion is to cook wonders in the kitchen. Whenever people taste Emoni's food, some deep insides move them deeply. She is an aspiring chef and dreams of attending a culinary school to improve on her already high skills. However, she has to work things out before von thinking about following her passion. Her grades are not bad, but she could improve in school.
Moreover, she works at a fast food place to earn someone to help her grandmother out, who has been raising her after her mum dies in a childbed. Furthermore, she is a teen mum of a two-year-old girl called Emma, as already mentioned. This is not always easy, and Emoni always tries to be her best self and even if she cannot afford to go to culinary school, she is determined to give her Babygirl a better life.
When her school annoyed a new culinary class with a weeklong apprenticeship in Spain, she feels she has at least tried to get in. Emoni has the chance to participate, but she does not understand yet how much responsibility she has taken on; however, she stays hopeful until the end. Additionally, a new student has transferred to Emoni's high school at the beginning of the year. His name is Malachi who is quite a sensitive boy despite his sometimes dirty jokes. After a while, the pair become friends, but it will happen more and what about Tyrone, the dad of little Emma and Emoni's ex?
The story is written in the limited third-person perspective, and almost the whole plot is set in Philadelphia beside the week trip in Spain. Additionally, the novel was written in the present beside the recurring back flashes. The story was also parted into three parts with a recipe at the being of each component.
The central theme is the struggle of ten motherhood and how it can and will affect your everyday life. Emoni got pregnant at age 14 and gave birth to Emma at 15. Her boyfriend at the time, Tyrone, was only 18 years old. This situation is super complicated, and it weighs heavily on one's shoulders. Despite your body still in development, it is cratering another human being right at the same time. The author has writing The storyline of the protagonist motherhood exquisite and realistic. We follow her feelings thought the pregnancy due to flashbacks and her struggles. It is hard to be pregnant, and I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to still be in high school and Ben going to Sumer school to gain the lost credit back. Not even mention how your fellow pupils will react. This storyline was extraordinary and deserved all its praise.
However, the romance between Emoni and Malachi fell a little bit flat. I enjoyed that they were taking things slow and that Tyrone was all up in Emoni's business. Still, for me, the author could have put more emphasises on that, especially since Emoni is a mum. It was lovely to read that Malachi did not have anything against that, but it just felt a bit too quick solved in the end. Furthermore, his tragic backstory was not discussed in this book, and I found it hard to believe it was realistic.
At the end of the book, the drama between Pretty Lesley and Emoni felt a bit childish since Emoni has dealt with a lot worse, and it felt weird to over drag this little fight so much. The book was sometimes a bit dragged out.
I loved the presentation of this book: The main characters being all BIPOC and even Emoni's best friend, Angelica, being a lesbian and deeply in love with her girlfriend Laura, was just too cute. Furthermore, I enjoyed that the book touched on heavy subjects like racism or death very caring and informative.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a light and humourless story with darker tones. I found that the book was traced to a slightly younger audience and that some plotlines were more vital than others.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, and Abandonment
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, and Abortion