e-ARC, 352 pages
Release Date: June 18, 2019Published by: Simon Pulse
Read from: June 7-12, 2019Anthology (Stand-alone)Source: Publishers (I received a copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW: Mentions drugs in one story.For fans of: Fantasy, Contemporary, Paranormal, Foodies, YAFrom some of your favorite bestselling and critically acclaimed authors—including Sandhya Menon, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Rin Chupeco—comes a collection of interconnected short stories that explore the intersection of family, culture, and food in the lives of thirteen teens.
A shy teenager attempts to express how she really feels through the confections she makes at her family’s pasteleria. A tourist from Montenegro desperately seeks a magic soup dumpling that could cure his fear of death. An aspiring chef realizes that butter and soul are the key ingredients to win a cooking competition that could win him the money to save his mother’s life.
Welcome to Hungry Hearts Row, where the answers to most of life’s hard questions are kneaded, rolled, baked. Where a typical greeting is, “Have you had anything to eat?” Where magic and food and love are sometimes one and the same.
Told in interconnected short stories, Hungry Hearts explores the many meanings food can take on beyond mere nourishment. It can symbolize love and despair, family and culture, belonging and home.
*MY THOUGHTS ON GIMME SOME SUGAR BY JAY COLES*
When I first heard about this tour I was so excited. And then when they said I could join and who I would be reviewing, I was immediately excited. I read and loved Tyler Johnson was Here and his short story in the Black Enough anthology. And as soon as I started reading his story, I again realized the importance of Own Voices.
Gimme Some Sugar shows a teen with anxiety/panic attacks, someone who’s family is from the South, is African American, and had stories with sweet potato pie and their mom and grandma. So basically, ME. The main character was basically me it was the first time I felt so SEEN. It’s giving this feeling to everyone that #OwnVoices is trying to accomplish and from me, Gimme Some Sugar got it so right.
As far as the food, I connected to that as well. I have stories for days about my the holidays and sweet potato pies and the special recipes that my grandma made only on special occasions. Just another way this short story was important to me. I really enjoyed seeing even these small details on the page and I hope others do too!
Gimme Some Sugar shows a teen with anxiety/panic attacks, someone who’s family is from the South, is African American, and had stories with sweet potato pie and their mom and grandma. So basically, ME. The main character was basically me it was the first time I felt so SEEN. It’s giving this feeling to everyone that #OwnVoices is trying to accomplish and from me, Gimme Some Sugar got it so right.
As far as the food, I connected to that as well. I have stories for days about my the holidays and sweet potato pies and the special recipes that my grandma made only on special occasions. Just another way this short story was important to me. I really enjoyed seeing even these small details on the page and I hope others do too!
Overall review to come later this week on Saturday!
Southern Sweet Potato Pie!
When I saw that sweet potato pie was part of this short story, I knew I needed to talk about my own life and experiences with sweet potato pie in my own family. Every holiday before we lost my grandmother, me, my mom, and her had a tradition. We would make the first pie and somehow they would “accidentally on purpose” come out wrong. It could be too brown, a smidge burnt, or have some deformed pie crust. We’d then “try a piece” and see if we could figure out what’s wrong. We would try them until the whole pie was gone, just sitting there with coffee or milk, talking, and eating pie. It was always my favorite part! Now its just me and my mom who carry on our tradition. And because it was so special to us, I want to share that recipe with you all! (Remember not all recipes are the same at every place.)
4 med. sweet potatoes, baked and sliced 2 c.
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs
1 3/4 c. sugar
1 stick butter, soft
Cream sugar and butter with mixer. Add rest of ingredients, mix and pour into unbaked 9 or 10-inch pie crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce to 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes. Mixer will pick up all the strings in sweet potatoes so they can be removed.
Jay Coles is a MG and YA author. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with two dogs nicknamed Bonnie and Clyde. Also, Jay is a teacher, blogger, composer/musician and a proud member of ASCAP!
Website: https://www.jaycoleswriter.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11573940.Jay_Coles
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mrjaycoles
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrjaycoles/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11573940.Jay_Coles
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mrjaycoles
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrjaycoles/
Elsie Chapman grew up in Prince George, Canada, and has a degree in English literature from the University of British Columbia. She is the author of the YA novels Dualed, Divided, Along the Indigo, and Caster as well as the MG novel All the Ways Home, and co-editor of A Thousand Beginnings and Endings and Hungry Hearts. She currently lives in Tokyo, Japan, with her family.
Photo Credit: Michael Meskin
Caroline Tung Richmond is an award-winning young adult author, whose historical novels include The Only Thing to Fear, The Darkest Hour, and Live In Infamy. She’s also the co-editor of the anthology Hungry Hearts, which features stories about food and will come out in June 2019 from Simon Pulse. Her work is represented by Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich.
Caroline is also the Program Director of We Need Diverse Books, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that advocates for diversity in children’s publishing.
After growing up in the Washington, D.C. area Caroline now lives in Virginia with her family.
June 10th – Introduction
Vicky (Welcome + Interview)
June 11th – Karuna Riazi
Naadhira (Review)
June 12th – Rin Chupeco
June 13th – Jay Coles
Nikki (Review + Creative Post)
June 14th – Elsie Chapman
June 15th – Sara Farizan
Em (Review)
June 16th – Caroline T. Richmond
June 17th – Adi Alsaid
Moon (Review + Creative Post)
June 18th – Sandhya Menon
June 19th – S. K. Ali
Mish (Review + Creative Post)
June 20th – Phoebe North
Kayla (Review + Aesthetic/Mood board)
June 21st – Rebecca Roanhorse
June 22nd – Sangu Mandanna
June 23rd – Anna-Marie McLemore
Nox (Review + Creative Post)
June 24th – Closing
CW (Review + Food Crawl)
This recipe is amazing! I love seet potato is everything 🙂
Rafflecopter name: Megan S.
I need to read this story–this author is so talented, plus anxiety attacks are something I'm still learning more about for myself as well as my daughter. And thank you for the sweet potato pie recipe! It sounds very similar to the way I make sweet potato casserole and I've always wanted to make the pie.
I'm just catching up on this tour, and I'm having so much fun – this is all so well put together. I love your post, and I'm glad you mentioned Tyler Johnson Was Here, because it's been sitting on my tbr for a looong time, and you've just made me push it ahead! And Gimme Some Sugar sounds amazing, as well! Can't wait for my copy of Hungry Hearts to arrive! Thanks for including a recipe as well. 🙂
Veronika @ Wordy and Whimsical