These are the books I featured on WBRC Fox 6 this month. Celebrate Fall with a children’s book about Black American heroes, a horror novel set in the Mexican countryside and two of fall’s most anticipated cookbooks. All are great reasons to celebrate. Some will make great gifts, too!
The Undefeated By Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
This book won the 2020 Caldecott Medal, was named a 2020 Newbery Honor Book and won the 2020 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. It’s a poem about Black American triumph and tribulation. Originally performed for ESPN’s sports and pop culture website, The Undefeated, as a love letter to Black America, it was redone as a children’s book for ages 6 to 9. The work is about the trauma of slavery, the faith of the civil rights movement and the perseverance of some of our country’s greatest heroes. Intertwined are the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Langston Hughes; Gwendolyn Brooks; and others. It’s about the past, to be sure, but it’s also about people making a difference in the present and for the future.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This is an engaging (read page-turning) suspenseful horror novel set in the Mexican countryside. Perfect for right now! A glamorous—and brave—socialite gets a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her. She says her husband, an English aristocrat, is poisoning her. Although Noemi is an unlikely hero, better suited for Mexico City’s cocktail party circuit than amateur sleuthing, she travels to High Place to help her cousin. What she discovers is strange family with a history of violence and madness. The house also has its own dark secrets and soon begins to haunt Noemi’s dreams. It’s all pretty scary.
The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food By Marcus Samuelsson
This cookbook was years in the making but feels especially relevant right now. The book celebrates the diversity of Black American food and the Black chefs and cooks who make it. Marcus Samuelsson (the award-winning Ethiopian and Swedish chef, restaurateur, author and food activist) teamed up with Osayi Endolyn, a James Beard Award-winning writer; Yewande Komolafe, a professional chef, recipe developer, food stylist and photographer; and Atlanta-based chef Tamie Cook of Cook Culinary Productions to spotlight stories and dishes from Black chefs and writers from across our country. Edouardo Jordan from Seattle, Nina Compton in New Orleans and Devita Davidson in Detroit are a few of the people featured in this cookbook that is as much fun to read as it is to follow. The foods are comforting, and the writing encourages reflection.
The Flavor Equation: The Science of Great Cooking Explained By Nik Sharma
This cookbook is written by a guy with a background in molecular biology. Don’t worry: There are 100 recipes here along with lots of beautiful photography! Go beyond the elements of taste (sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami) to discover how textures and aromas and visuals and even emotion affect the flavor of a dish and how we perceive it.
I link to Amazon to show you exactly what book I’m talking about, but I love to shop locally at Church Street Coffee and Books, The Alabama Booksmith, Little Professor Book Center, and I often visit my local library.
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