A stunning collection of short stories about the intersection of family, culture, and food in the lives in teens, from bestselling and critically acclaimed authors, including Sandhya Menon, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Rin Chupeco.
A shy teenager attempts to express how she really feels through the pastries she makes at her family’s pasteleria. A tourist from Montenegro desperately seeks a magic soup dumpling that can cure his fear of death. An aspiring chef realizes that butter and soul are the key ingredients to win a cooking competition that could win him the money to save his mother’s life.
Welcome to Hungry Hearts Row, where the answers to most of life’s hard questions are kneaded, rolled, baked. Where a typical greeting is, “Have you had anything to eat?” Where magic and food and love are sometimes one in the same.
Told in interconnected short stories, Hungry Hearts explores the many meanings food can take on beyond mere nourishment. It can symbolize love and despair, family and culture, belonging and home.
About the Editors
Elsie Chapman grew up in Prince George, Canada, and has a degree in English literature from the University of British Columbia. She is the author of the YA novels Dualed, Divided, and Along the Indigo, the middle grade novel All the Ways Home, and the coeditor of A Thousand Beginnings and Endings and Hungry Hearts. She currently lives in Tokyo, Japan, with her family. You can visit her online at ElsieChapman.com.
Caroline Tung Richmond is the award-winning author of The Only Thing to Fear, The Darkest Hour, and Live in Infamy, and the coeditor of Hungry Hearts. She’s also the program director of We Need Diverse Books, a nonprofit that promotes diversity in children’s literature. A self-proclaimed history nerd and cookie connoisseur, Caroline lives with her family in the Washington, DC, area. Visit her online at CarolineTRichmond.com.
Industry Reviews
A Junior Library Guild Selection
“A brilliant multicultural collection that reminds readers that stories about food are rarely just about the food alone.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Emphasizing the importance of love, family, and culture, and written with delectable descriptions, each story is best savored like a favorite dish: slowly and with great relish.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Filled to the brim with delightful surprises and deep familial bonds.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
“If home is where the heart is, this gourmet story collection is a place many readers will ache to call home. . . Well-rounded, delicious.” —School Library Journal
“Dynamic, varied, and filled with flavor.” —Booklist
