Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Super Star Children's Book Review: Fry Bread

Welcome to the monthly children’s book review feature with a focus on diverse books here at Bird Meets Worm! My team of reviewers—Joan Charles, Laurie L. Young, Sarah Orgill—and I are so excited to be championing books celebrating everything from gender diversity, people of color, the LGBTQ community to ethnic, cultural and religious minorities, people with disabilities and developmental challenges to controversial topics, unique family situations and anything and everything I did not include. It is to say we take a rightfully broad view of diversity! We aim to shine a light on books that bring both familiar experiences to those who do not often see themselves represented in books and new experiences to those looking to expand their worldview. Here at Bird Meets Worm we believe in the power of story to build empathy and thus a better world for you and me and everyone. Look for a new review on the second Wednesday of every month.


FRY BREAD
Written by Kevin Noble Maillard • Illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal
Picture Book (ages 3-8) • 48 pages
Published by Roaring Brook Press • 2019
ISBN: 978-1-6267-2746-5

Fry Bread is a sweet and compelling picture book. Maillard describes all aspects of the Native American comfort food, fry bread—the texture, the tastes, the smells. The colorful and vibrant pictures show the community that comes together when it is time to make fry bread. We see pictures of eager children waiting patiently, or even a little impatiently, for the fry bread to finish sizzling and snapping.

As the book continues, we see that fry bread is not just a tasty treat. Maillard connects fry bread to Native American culture itself. Fry bread IS Native American culture, with all its shapes and variety. There isn’t just one right, quintessential fry bread recipe, just as there is not one, single Native American tribe, but multitudes.

Going further, Maillard also connects fry bread to the never-ending struggles Native Americans have faced, and notes that fry bread was an “unknown food” and that “we made new recipes, from what we had…” In the extended author’s note, it mentions that fry bread is not a traditional Native American food, but rather a food made as a result of “government-caused deprivation” and was made from the powdered dry goods available in government rations. Fry bread represents the adaptability and resilience of Native American people in the face of unrelenting adversity.

With Fry Bread, Maillard and Martinez-Neal showcase the beauty, courage and complexity of Native American culture in modern-day American society.

Buy this book:

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