An Appetite for Miracles

February 6, 2023
Mexican high schooler Danna Mendoza Villareal navigates grief, love, and memory in this gutting yet hopeful verse novel by Kemp (Heartbreak Symphony). After finding a personal book of recipes and food reviews written by their grandfather, who has dementia, Danna and her cousin Victoria reintroduce him to each dish, intending to help him recall his lost memories. But Danna’s mother sours this plan, constantly commenting about Danna’s weight and monitoring the teen’s eating habits. Meanwhile, Raúl Santos, alongside his pastor uncle, acts as a “human jukebox” for their community’s elderly, believing that “through the power of music,/ we lead people/ back to the life/ they once had.” Though Raúl seems effortlessly effervescent, he carries private heartache over his mother’s wrongful imprisonment two years prior. When Danna and Raúl meet, sparks fly, and together they discover the joys of first love and inspire each other to look ahead to their futures, even as they’re preoccupied with the past. By employing layered characterizations and dual perspectives rendered in lyrical prose, Kemp skillfully examines themes of anti-fat bias, generational trauma, and the prison-industrial complex, while simultaneously cultivating a tender love story. Ages 14–up. Agent: Andrea Morrison, Writers House.

March 15, 2023
Grades 7-10 Life takes a series of vicious turns for teens Danna and Ra�l. Danna is grappling with the gradual loss of her grandfather as he dips further and further into the grips of dementia. Ra�l struggles with an incarcerated mother who returns home fractured and broken. When Danna and Ra�l find each other, they are able to navigate the valleys and peaks of their familial losses and of their newfound, blooming love. The dual point of view volleys back and forth between Danna and Ra�l. It is between these two distinct views that we are given a peek into the rich, multilayered family dynamics at the heart of the story. Although we are keenly aware of Danna and Ra�l's emerging love, it is through the messy, poignant moments that take place between the two different families that we discover the tenacity and resilience of that love. As always, Kemp (Heartbreak Symphony, 2022) writes authentic, visceral characters. Though the novel is tinged with hints of loss, there is at its very core an undeniable joy.

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Starred review from April 1, 2023

Gr 8 Up-Sixteen-year-old Danna is trying desperately to cope with her grandpa's advancing dementia. Using her deceased grandmother Aurora's recipes and detailed reviews Grandpa wrote about foods special to him, she hopes to evoke his memories. While Danna's father supports this, her mother, Raquel, is highly critical of Danna's body and what goes in it. Meanwhile, Ra�l's mother has just been released after two years in prison, pressuring him about his schoolwork without awareness of the emotional toll her absence has created for her son. He leans into playing his guitar as a source of comfort. Both teens just long to be enough to make their mothers proud. They meet when Ra�l plays music for Danna's grandpa as part of music therapy treatment, and instantly connect as teens facing family traumas. This verse novel is told in alternating perspectives of the two teens, with their Mexican American culture being woven into the poetry through delectable food descriptions and music. While these senses are used in attempt to capture the past and ignite more lucid moments with Grandpa, readers also gain insight into Danna and Ra�l's grief and the tenderness between them. While they are both facing the loss of an important family member, they search for hope and forgiveness as ways to reclaim their stories both past and present. Themes include dementia, incarcerated parent, body shaming, physical violence, references to sexual assault, and death of grandparent. VERDICT A captivating and emotional coming-of-age tale that harmonizes magnificently in verse.-Lisa Krok

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2023
This novel in verse is told from the perspectives of Danna and Raul, who meet when Raul and his uncle play music as therapy for Danna's grandfather, who has dementia. They are enamored with each other that first day, but Danna fully wins Raul over on his next visit with her homemade chorreadas de piloncillo. Kemp employs striking food metaphors and similes to create a warm image of young love ("I didn't know / you could see [love] / glittering in the crust / of a cookie") as well as a poignant perspective on the experience of caring for a loved one with dementia. Danna fears losing not just her grandfather but also his memories as a food writer. She is at least somewhat comforted when she finds his journals that reveal "a portrait of / an appetite -- / even older than I am -- / ...for adventure and romance and a satisfaction / you can taste." Danna considers herself the poet, but Raul's sections use verse more effectively, especially in conveying his relationship with his mother; she and Raul are both survivors of domestic violence, and she has recently returned from two years of incarceration. Fans of Acevedo's The Poet X (rev. 3/18) will appreciate this novel's similar style and themes, which also touch on religion, body image, and Latine identity. Monica de los Reyes

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from February 15, 2023
Familial bonds are tested and stretched to their limits as teens Danna and Ra�l seek to reconnect with their loved ones who are physically close but mentally worlds away. Sixteen-year-old Danna Mendoza's relationship with her mother, Raquel, is in tatters, largely due to their differences in coping with the progressing dementia of Danna's beloved grandfather but also because of Raquel's preoccupation with Danna's body and eating habits. Meanwhile, Ra�l Santos' mother has recently been released after spending two years in prison. Though Ra�l wishes he was the type of son she could be proud of, he is frightened by his mother's struggles and disappointed by her seeming obsession with his performance in school. But when Ra�l and Danna are brought together, they feel their hearts come alive despite all this. The verse narration alternates between the two Mexican American leads and effectively showcases the depths of their emotions through their interactions with family, friends, and each other. Although the theme of loss is ever present, the story is buoyed by the parallel explorations of falling in love, gaining perspective, and learning to forgive. Disordered eating is also sensitively handled. Cultural elements are woven seamlessly into the story, which features familial relationships that ring true. This is an earnest, stirring novel about staying open to hope and love despite the tremendous potential for, and certainty of, loss. Emotionally resonant and deeply moving. (Verse fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2023
This novel in verse is told from the perspectives of Danna and Raúl, who meet when Raúl and his uncle play music as therapy for Danna's grandfather, who has dementia. They are enamored with each other that first day, but Danna fully wins Raúl over on his next visit with her homemade chorreadas de piloncillo. Kemp employs striking food metaphors and similes to create a warm image of young love ("I didn't know / you could see �love] / glittering in the crust / of a cookie") as well as a poignant perspective on the experience of caring for a loved one with dementia. Danna fears losing not just her grandfather but also his memories as a food writer. She is at least somewhat comforted when she finds his journals that reveal "a portrait of / an appetite -- / even older than I am -- / ...for adventure and romance and a satisfaction / you can taste." Danna considers herself the poet, but Raúl's sections use verse more effectively, especially in conveying his relationship with his mother; she and Raúl are both survivors of domestic violence, and she has recently returned from two years of incarceration. Fans of Acevedo's The Poet X (rev. 3/18) will appreciate this novel's similar style and themes, which also touch on religion, body image, and Latine identity.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)