With the Fire on High Review
My school started an exciting new program this year: staff summer reading! With titles ranging in age levels and genres, their goal was to encourage more reading. Interested staff members chose to borrow one brand-new book from the staff-only library to take home for the summer. It is entirely low-stakes: You don't even have read the book if you don't want to. As someone who is constantly looking for more YA recommendations I can make my students, I decided to revisist a YA author I love, Elizabeth Acevedo, and request With the Fire on High.
The main character, Emoni, is a high school senior with a two-year-old daughter struggling to make ends meet with her grandmother, who raised her. Emoni loves cooking, and I definitely recommend reading this book with a snack readily available. What I wouldn't give to try this fictional girl's food!
While I do not think this book would be appropriate for most high school freshmen, I do appreciate that Acevedo tackles adult subjects in her book. Acevedo does not pull any punches when it comes to Emoni's struggles: Her relationship with the father of her child, the reality of people's perceptions of teen mothers, and the impact poverty has on yound people are all forefront in this novel. I think it is an excellent exercise both in empathy (for people that have not experienced Emoni's troubles) and in hope (for people that have).
I really felt that I understood Emoni and her choices (even if I did not always agree with them). Acevedo did a great job making her come to life. Even if you aren't normally a YA fan, I think this novel is worth reading. It was a relatively quick and very enjoyable.