A searchable database of books recommended by the CCBC.
(More information on CCBC book recommendations)
Let Me Fix You a Plate: A Tale of Two Kitchens
“Once a year, on a Friday night, my family leaves the city and drives for hours and hours …” Destination: West Virginia, where Mawmaw is waiting. “Let me fix you a plate,” she says. The young biracial (Colombian/white) narrator describes the time her family spends with Mawmaw and Pawpaw, her dad’s parents, eating good things. “Three days later, we leave Mamaw’s house so early it is still night, and drive and drive and drive, south and south and south…” Destination: Florida, where Abuela and Abuelo are waiting, and they spend time with her mother’s parents, eating different good things. Three days later, “we leave the little orange house and drive and drive and drive back toward our house in the city.” Within the parallel structure of the two visits to different sides of her family, the young narrator provides terrific observations about both sets of grandparents as well as family dynamics in each place in this fresh story further enlivened by terrific sensory language. Pen-and-ink, colored pencil, and markers were used to create cheery, vibrant illustrations that feel both childlike and sophisticated. Honor Book, 2021-2022 Charlotte Zolotow Award ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
Illustrated by Elizabeth Lilly
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 3-7
Age Range:
Babies/Toddlers (birth – 3)
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Format:
Picture book
Subjects:
Colombians and Colombian Americans
Comparisons
Families
Food and Cooking
Grandfathers
Grandmothers
Multiracial Characters/Families
Observation
Patterned text/Repetition
Travel
Diversity subject:
Latine
Publishers:
Holiday House, Neal Porter Books
Publish Year: 2021
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9780823443253
CCBC Location: Picture Book, Lilly