With the Fire on High

With the Fire on High (2019) is Elizabeth Acevedo's warm, sensory young-adult novel about ambition, motherhood, and the art of cooking.

Emoni Santiago is a high-school senior in Philadelphia with a gift: whatever she cooks seems to work a small magic on the people who eat it. But her life leaves little room for dreams. She is raising her young daughter, Babygirl, with the help of her fierce grandmother, working to keep money coming in, and trying to finish school. When her school offers a culinary arts class — complete with a trip to Spain she can't imagine affording — Emoni has to weigh her passion against every practical responsibility pulling at her.

Told in Acevedo's lyrical, flavorful prose, the novel celebrates Afro-Latina identity, food as love and heritage, and the quiet heroism of choosing your future without abandoning the people who depend on you. A nourishing, hopeful read for fans of character-driven contemporary YA.