Review written by: Desiree Anderson
2019 has definitely been the year of diversity amongst literacy and Elizabeth Acevedo’s latest release did not fail to deliver. With the Fire on High tells the story of Emoni, a high school senior with a passion and talent for the culinary arts. After getting pregnant freshman year, Emoni feels that her best option for life after graduation is to put her dreams of college and becoming a chef on the back burner. She feels that the “smart choice” is to work as much as possible in order to not only take care of her daughter, but to also take some of the weight off of her abuela’s shoulders who has raised her since she was a baby.
Growing up in a poverty-stricken city, being raised by grandparents, being of two ethnicities, having a child young, having a dream that doesn’t always seem attainable; those are all things that can be reflected on in our own lives. Something that I personally connected to was Emoni’s perspective on being mixed. In the story, Emoni mentions not feeling like she belongs anywhere just right. She doesn’t speak fluent Spanish, so she doesn’t always feel fully accepted by her Puerto Rican side and she’s light skinned so the people in her community don’t always, if ever, acknowledge that she’s black. The importance of home and feeling the need to belong is something that was projected through the entirety of the story and was captured brilliantly.
Although classified as a Young Adult Novel, With the Fire on High is a beautifully written, relatable story for any age. Acevedo did a remarkable job illustrating the beauty of parenthood mixed with the struggle of teen pregnancy without leaving out how difficult but also life altering having a young child while balancing school can be.
As an avid reader, there weren’t many books getting published that felt real and relatable in the teen/ young adult genre. To be more specific, up until the stellar release of The Hate U Give back in 2017, there hadn’t been that many novels released that depicted what everyday life looked like for young women and men growing up in urban cities in modern times. There hadn’t been many books with girls on the cover that looked like me. But I am so proud of the new generation of diverse writers with debut novels that are not only taking over the literary world, but also giving example to young people of color that their dreams are never out of reach.
