Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

by Kevin Noble Maillard, Juana Martinez-Neal (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Kevin Noble Maillard weaves meaningful themes of Native American identity with a celebration of community and food.

Winner of the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
An American Indian Youth Literature Picture Book Honor Winner

“A wonderful and sweet book . . . Lovely stuff.” —The New York Times Book Review

Told in lively and powerful verse by debut author Kevin Noble Maillard, Fry Bread is an evocative depiction of a modern Native American family, vibrantly illustrated by Pura Belpre Award winner and Caldecott Honoree Juana Martinez-Neal.

Fry bread is food.
It is warm and delicious, piled high on a plate.

Fry bread is time.
It brings families together for meals and new memories.

Fry bread is nation.
It is shared by many, from coast to coast and beyond.

Fry bread is us.
It is a celebration of old and new, traditional and modern, similarity and difference.

A Charlotte Huck Recommended Book
A Publishers Weekly Best Picture Book
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book
A School Library Journal Best Picture Book
A Booklist Editor's Choice
A Shelf Awareness Best Children's Book
A Goodreads Choice Award Semifinalist
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book
A National Public Radio (NPR) Best Book
An NCTE Notable Poetry Book
A NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
A ALA Notable Children's Book
An ILA Notable Book for a Global Society
Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year List
One of NPR's 100 Favorite Books for Young Readers
Nominee, Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Award
Nominee, Illinois Monarch Award

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626727465
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	10/22/2019
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Kevin Noble Maillard is the debut author of Fry Bread, published by Roaring Brook/Macmillan. He is also a regular writer and former contributing editor to the New York Times, with additional writings in The Atlantic, Essence, and The Week. He has provided on-air commentary for MSNBC, CNN, ABC, and Al Jazeera. Currently based in Manhattan, New York, he splits time between the city and upstate New York, where he is a tenured professor of law at Syracuse University. A graduate of Duke University and Penn Law School, he also earned a PhD in Political Theory from the University of Michigan. Originally from Oklahoma, he is an enrolled citizen of the Seminole Nation.

Juana Martinez-Neal is an illustrator of books for children, including the Pura Belpre Award winner La Princesa and the Pea. She made her authorial debut in 2018 with Alma and How She Got Her Name, which was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Juana was born in Lima, Peru, where she grew up surrounded by amazing meals prepared by her mom and amazing paintings made by her dad and grandad. She now lives, eats, and paints in Scottsdale, Arizona, surrounded by her amazing children.

Editorial Reviews

“Through the story and the book's beautiful pictures, Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal capture the complexity of native identity.” —Graham Lee Brewer, NPR

“A wonderful and sweet book [that] takes a staple food of many tribes across the country and uses it to think about family, history, memory and community. . . Lovely stuff.” —The New York Times Book Review

“With buoyant, heartfelt illustrations that show the diversity in Native America, the book tells the story of a post-colonial food, a shared tradition across the North American continent . . . Through this topic that includes the diversity of so many Native peoples in a single story, Maillard (Mekusukey Seminole) promotes unity and familiarity among nations. Fry bread is much more than food, as this book amply demonstrates.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Fry Bread celebrates the thing itself and much, much more . . . Maillard and Martinez-Neal bring depth, detail, and whimsy to this Native American food story, with text and illustrations depicting the diversity of indigenous peoples, the role of continuity between generations, and the adaptation over time of people, place, and tradition.” —Booklist, starred review

“A powerful meditation” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“This warm and charming book shows and affirms Native lives. The informational text and expressive drawings give it broad appeal.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“Rich with smells and sounds, Fry Bread radiates with Native American pride, the sharing of traditions and the love of family.” —Book Page, starred review

“An affecting picture book that features family and friends gathering, creating and enjoying fry bread together. Glorious . . . [Back matter] augments the simple, sincere verses with illuminating edification for older readers . . . Remarkable in balancing the shared delights of extended family with onerous ancestral legacy, Maillard both celebrates and bears witness to his no-single-recipe-fits-all community.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review

"In Maillard’s generous and sweetly syncopated book, Fry Bread is also an expression of Native pride and generational love passed down one warm, fresh-baked batch at a time." —The New York Times

From the Publisher

2019 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
2019 NPR Best Book of the Year, Long-listed
2020 Robert F. Sibert Award - Medal, Winner
2019 Kirkus Reviews Editor's Choice, Long-listed
2019 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, Long-listed