BIBLIOGRAPHY
Acevedo, Elizabeth. 2019. With the Fire on High. New York: HarperTeen. ISBN: 978-0062662835
PLOT SUMMARY
Despite having a child as a Freshman, Emoni Santiago is about to graduate into adulthood. Her senior year, Emoni’s grandmother is slowly allowing Emoni to take full responsibility for her baby Emma. Just when she thinks she has her senior class and work schedules figured out, Emoni finds out about a new culinary arts elective she was destined to take. Emoni loves cooking and her ‘Buela even thinks she has magical hands. She signs up for the class eager to test her skills in a real kitchen, only to skip it for a week after Chef Ayden tells her she must follow the recipe precisely as it is given, or risk making customers sick. She only swallows her pride after speaking to Chef Lisa, Chef Ayden’s friend, after a nice lunch at Café Sorrel. Emoni realizes she could be a Chef Lisa in the future, but she must be more disciplined to reach that goal. She returns to class and apologizes to Chef Ayden.
Included in the class is a trip to Spain. Under Emoni’s leadership, a lot of grueling hours of cooking and serving, the group of ten students raise most of the $8,000 to cover expenses. One week alone in Spain is enough for Emoni to experience adulthood and realize she has control of her future, her decisions, her love life. She has a straight talk with her romantic interest, Malachi, and trusts that he is truly interested in her being, and not only in sleeping with her. Emoni’s apprenticeship with Chef Amadí strengthens her confidence and faith in herself. If Chef Amadí would hire her in Sevilla and considers her good enough to cook a full meal for customers on her first day, she can make something of herself in Philly. Emoni resolves to go to Culinary Arts school part time and work with Chef Lisa in Café Sorrel full time.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
With the Fire on High is not about the heart-dropping, life altering moment when a girl discovers there will be living consequences of the first time she had terrible sex. It is about what comes after. It is about navigating relationships, friendships, milestones, a career, all while being a parent. Through Emoni, Acevedo puts a face to the reports that more teens of color end up pregnant. Acevedo’s thoughtful and captive narrative helps readers empathize with teen parents and their full spectrum of struggles.
Emoni not only fits the demographics of a teen mother, but readers get an intimate look into what it truly means to be a teen mother. Emoni makes up for her small frame in personality. She carries herself with pride, even when she is pregnant, in school and in the neighborhood. Her speech is direct, and intimidating when it needs to be. There are no unnecessary apologies or even fillers in her language. For as terrible a student as she claims she is, she is a clever girl. Readers may ask, how did she end up a teen mother? But that is the point. A teen mother is not always the irresponsible teen who sneaks out of the house to go to parties or using a fake I.D. to get into clubs. Even if they are, becoming a teen parent does not immediately reduce the worth of a person. They still have hopes and dreams for themselves and their children.
Tyrone is also above the typical “baby daddy” stereotype. He is at first described as a suave, privileged boy without forethought but he is a punctual and dedicated father. By the end of the novel, he is maturely accepting financial responsibility, and asks to spend more time with Emma so he can partake in her milestones. His rigidness about Emoni dating becomes more concern over Emma than sexist overbearing jealousy.
Acevedo’s narrative reflects a less judgmental society than the one Hester Prynne encountered for having a child born out of adultery. Emoni has a support network starting with ‘Buela, Angelica, Ms. Fuentes, Mamá Clara’s home daycare, Tyrone, and even Tyrone’s mother. By the end of the book her village is expanded to Chef Ayden, Chef Amarí, Chef Lisa, Julio, and to some extent, Malachi. Malachi is the prime example of Chivalry, as one of the chapter titles describes him. Despite hearing about Emma through Pretty Leslie’s teeth, Malachi continues to pursue Emoni. Despite her cold shoulder and unwillingness to become even friends, he symbolizes the many men who persist, accept, and love women for who they are and do not only pursue them thinking them “easy” or considering their children extra baggage. Many marriages nowadays consist of step-parents that have adopted sons and daughters born out of wedlock as their own.
With the Fire on High accurately describes the lifestyle of West Allegheny Avenue Philadelphia. Although the neighborhood is never described in detail, the economic struggle is alluded to many times. ‘Buela’s working conditions result in her permanent disability. There’s mention of the students in Chef Ayden’s class having seen knives used on each other. Emoni and her classmates exhaust themselves trying to meet their individual $800 trip expense, and even Chef Ayden cannot pay Emoni’s $275 balance last minute. For more privileged students, the full $800 would have been covered by parents without a wince. Students of Schomburg Charter, however, have to excel in a talent— such as Angelica’s graphic skills and Emoni’s cooking ones— to the verge of supernatural abilities in order to hold a chance at making it out in the world. It is no wonder why Pretty Leslie feels so confused and discouraged about what she will make of herself after graduation.
The focus on Spanish cuisine and the international trip to Sevilla count as overt examples of characters interacting with different cultures within the novel. Mr. Jagoda, ‘Buela’s romantic interest, is Polish, we learn late in the novel. Readers are cued from the first page about Emoni’s ethnicity, however, with her use of Spanish and descriptions of traditional Puerto Rican food. Characters speak using authentic Philly Black vernacular. Through Julio and his political and social activism, Acevedo sprinkles Puerto Rican pride and history throughout the novel before the trip to Spain.
The chapters titled “Gilded” and “Histories” specifically call out Spanish conquest and the Moor/Muslim invasion of Spain. Emoni finally understands Julio’s political principles. Prior to Spanish conquest, readers learn that under the Taíno people, the island was called Borinken and that is why Puerto Ricans call themselves boricuas (306). These are histories of which many Americans and even Latinos are not aware. These chapters also show the difference between Emoni, who is a mix of African American and Puerto Rican Black, versus Malachi, who has had more Islamic influences growing up African American in Newark. The fact that their ideals and identities as 21st century Black Philly teens both have ties back to Spain shows the interconnectedness of peoples and culture, much like Chef Amadí’s “modern Spanish cuisine with a North African twist” (286).
With the Fire on High is a delight to the senses and the mind. It is a refreshing and accurate representation of a taboo subject that affects the Black and Latinx community. Emoni embodies the resolve and focus teen mothers adopt to survive in the world. Teen mothers do not need to keep apologizing for one bad decision, surrendering themselves to dead-end jobs to take care of their babies, Acevedo says. Rather, they need a village that helps, motivates, and uplifts them to become the best version of themselves, and in this way better support their children.
AWARDS
2021 Blue Hen Book Award, Winner, Teen Readers
2021 Green Mountain Book Award, Winner, Young Adult
2020 Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, Teen Honor Book
2019 NAIBA Book of the Year Award, 2019, Winner
REVIEW EXCERPTS
From School Library Journal, starred review: “The acclaimed author follows up her celebrated The Poet X with a love letter to food and a tribute to young, single mothers… Acevedo’s second serving offers a much-needed nuanced exploration of teen parenting that belongs on all shelves.”
From Publishers Weekly, starred review: “Acevedo’s unvarnished depiction of young adulthood is at once universal and intensely specific.”
From Horn Book, starred review: “Acevedo continues to create beautifully realized characters with complex lives… Readers of all sorts will find something to connect with in this honest and ultimately hopeful story.”
CONNECTIONS
For those interested in more teen pregnancy reads:
-Czora, C. My Teenage Pregnancy. 2017. ISBN: 978-0998684963. Offers autobiographical takes on parenting, adoption, and abortion.
-Thompkins, JoAnne. What Comes After. 2021. ISBN: 978-0593085998. Critically acclaimed novel about murder, loss, and new beginnings, featuring a troubled pregnant teen.
For those looking to read more YA fiction about Latinx characters and their experience:
-Saied Méndez, Yamile. Furia. 2020. ISBN: 978-1616209919. An Argentinian teen hides from her unsupportive parents the fact that she is playing fútbol until her team qualifies to play in a tournament.
– Acevedo’s Clap When You Land & The Poet X
Biblioterika 