When Alexander Graced the Table

Starred review from December 1, 2024
James Beard Award-winning chef Smalls, acclaimed author and editor Millner, and celebrated illustrator Morrison team up for an ode to Sunday dinner. After church each week, young Alexander's whole family gathers on the porch for a sumptuous feast. To prepare, this tightknit Black family crowds into the kitchen on Saturday night; Alexander helps his mother peel eggs, shred cheese, and shell pecans. He also gathers garden-fresh ingredients with his grandfather, who reminds him, "Water and patience--that's all anything living needs to grow." But what Alexander wants most of all is to contribute something of his very own--something his often-preoccupied father will love. When Alexander cooks franks and beans one Saturday evening after the meal prep, his creation is so tasty that Mom tells him to whip up a dessert with which to grace the table that Sunday. Highlighting a young boy's entree into the culinary arts, this delightful tale frames cooking as an important rite of passage--and a way to cement familial bonds. Smalls and Millner's pitch-perfect dialogue imbues the various characters with life. Relying on his signature oil paintings, Morrison adds energy and verve; he captures Alexander's nervousness in an especially captivating close-up of Dad gazing at the child's lemon icebox pie, one eyebrow raised. Dad's appreciative smile and words ("That's somegood pie") say it all. The joy of cooking--and family--brought to brilliant life. (recipe for lemon icebox pie)(Picture book. 4-7)

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Starred review from December 1, 2024
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* For an excellent example of #BlackBoyJoy, look to this sweet celebration of food and familial love from renowned chef Smalls and his cocreators. Warmth and community are exuded in Morrison's oil paintings of a young Smalls and his extended family filling the kitchen on Saturday night as they prepare for their weekly feast. After church on Sunday, the group gathers to share and enjoy. Smalls has long been part of the event, cooking by his mother's side, but when given the opportunity to make something on his own, he is excited and anxious. More than anything, he wants to please his father by making his favorite dessert--a lemon icebox pie. The importance of this family ritual is emphasized by the text: "Sundays were . . . joy. The week may have been long and a little tough, but Sunday dinners meant family was there for you." Concentrating on the group's weekend, the illustrations lovingly depict the comfortable home and a variety of family members dressed up for church or less fancy for the afternoon, with children running around outside and the older folks gathered in chairs, plus a garden for fresh ingredients. In the end, the pie appears, a symbol of Smalls' success and the beginning of his life's work. The recipe is included, and Smalls encourages children to create their own sweet memories.

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