CCBC booklist are compiled from books we have recommended in various editions of CCBC Choices. Most of these booklists are updated annually. You can also select books from one or more booklists to create a custom list, which can also include additional books from the CCBC-Recommended Book Search.
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A Place at the Table
CCBC Review:
Pakistani American Sara is in her first year at public middle school after previously attending a private Mosque school her family can no longer afford. Elizabeth, Jewish and white, is in the after-school cooking club Mrs. Hameed (Sara’s mom) is running. The two meet in the club and soon realize they have much in common, including immigrant mothers preparing for the U.S. citizenship test (or, in the case of Elizabeth’s British mother, not preparing, which worries her). Alternating chapters from each girl’s perspective chronicle their developing friendship and personal challenges. Sara is worried about her family’s financial situation, and wonders if her parents will ever support her desire to study art. Elizabeth is worried about her mom, depressed since the death of her own mother back in England; her dad’s way of dealing with it is to travel more than ever for work. As the two girls develop a recipe for an upcoming contest, their friendship is complicated by Elizabeth’s best friend, Maddy, whose racist, anti-Muslim comments are not only hateful but ill-informed. Sara is disappointed by Elizabeth’s silence, while Elizabeth knows she should challenge Maddy, but has no idea what to say. How Sara and Elizabeth openly discuss this tension is one of the welcome, intentional aspects of this appealing, insightful novel. So, too, is the role of food, including its connection to culture, and the young chefs’ realistic mistakes and false starts. ©2021 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-12
Age Range:
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
Asian Americans
Food and Cooking
Friendship
Immigration and Immigrants
Islamophobia
Jewish People
Muslim People
Pakistanis and Pakistani Americans
Racism
School
Diversity subjects:
Asian
Jewish
Muslim
On CCBC Booklists:
School Stories: Selected PreK-12 Literature about the School Experience
Asian in America: Selected Books for PreK-Grade 12 to Support Hmong and Asian American Studies in Wisconsin
Publishers:
Clarion, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publish Year: 2020
Pages: 325
ISBN: 9780358116684
CCBC Location: Fiction, Faruqi
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Our Recommended Book Search includes access to CCBC-recommended titles based on subject headings created by our staff.
Please send questions or comments about CCBC booklists to ccbcinfo@education.wisc.edu.