Let Me Fix You a Plate: A Tale of Two Kitchens

K-Gr 2--Lilly's second picture book is full of warmth, good food, and most importantly, the love of grandparents and extended family. A young girl and her family leave their home in the city after school one Friday and drive for "hours and hours" to visit grandparents in two distinct locales. Traveling first to the mountains of West Virginia, the narrator and her sisters are welcomed late at night to Mamaw and Papaw's house with the greeting of "Let me fix you a plate." After several days in the mountains with her father's white family they travel to Florida where they are greeted by their Spanish-speaking Abuela who invites them in with "Hay comidita adentro. Comense. There's food inside. Come and eat." The warmth and love of the family and their relatives is abundantly clear in colors and lines that evoke emotion and details of the two different cultures that are also similar to one another. The end papers are full of details that invite readers to think about the artifacts that are part of their family's heritage. This title would be an ideal writing or art prompt for students to encourage them to share stories of the cultures that comprise their family. VERDICT With rich sensory details in the text to accompany detailed and inviting illustrations, this title is a wonderful and celebratory addition to all library shelves.--John Scott, Baltimore County P.S.

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

A road trip leads to two different kitchens--and a shared kind of love--as a narrator, two sisters, and their parents visit their grandparents. After "hours and hours" of driving from their city home, the car arrives in the "cool, dark night" of rural West Virginia, where the children's white paternal grandparents live. Mamaw serves them breakfast the next morning: "sausage sizzling in the skillet, blackberry jam on toast, and tractors on cups." Three days later, the family heads to Florida and the children's Latinx maternal grandparents: "Hay comidita adentro. Comense," Abuela says; "There's food inside. Come and eat." In West Virginia, the quiet house holds only Mamaw and Papaw; in Florida, "aunts and cousins and uncles and neighbors talk over each other above my head" while eating tostones and arroz and flan. Lilly's sharp eye notes the way the parents respond to being home ("my mom still laughing") and to leaving it ( Daddy "missing... quiet mountain tops"). With clear, bighearted text and an expressive ink line drawing the variously shaped bodies of her characters, Lilly (Geraldine) pays tribute to familial richness across generations and cultures. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

★ The journey is told on multiple levels across pictures and text that entice readers, like the mouthwatering portrayals of home-cooked meals prepared and served by two extended families and two cultures. Lilly's loose yet warm illustration style, awash in a rainbow of colors and textures, captures the love in these families. . . . A storytelling feast for the whole family, no matter where you live.—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

★ With clear, bighearted text and an expressive ink line drawing the variously shaped bodies of her characters, Lilly . . . pays tribute to familial richness across generations and cultures.—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The warmth and love of the family and their relatives is abundantly clear in colors and lines that evoke emotion and details of the two different cultures that are also similar to one another. The end papers are full of details that invite readers to think about the artifacts that are part of their family's heritage. . . With rich sensory details in the text to accompany detailed and inviting illustrations, this title is a wonderful and celebratory addition to all library shelves.—School Library Journal

Colombian American author-illustrator Lilly takes readers along on a family road trip in this 'tale of two kitchens' (and two cultures). . . . Layering color and shadow over a loose pen-and-ink line, Lilly's illustrations convey warmth, atmosphere, and a wealth of detail.—The Horn Book

This is a warm, loving look at the homes and families of parents who come from two cultures. . . . The story exudes warmth and love without being cloyingly sweet. Illustrations burst with energy and detail while the colors used for each house and setting suit the areas and the people. This book is truly a delight for eye and ear alike.—School Library Connection

Each gemütlich scene is vibrantly hued and cozily dense with detail; two double spreads in map form feature elements from each grandparent home, which presents a golden opportunity to examine scenes carefully for a seek and find. Particularly observant viewers will also enjoy seeing mismatched elements of decor—the cat plate; the tiny house with key hooks—testify to a family that finds comfort in tradition even as they cherish their own homey rituals.—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books