What We're Reading

New York Times bestselling author Alix E. Harrow has created fantastic stories with roots in tradition, but with wholly fresh takes. In her previous novels she’s written about doorways to other worlds, witches and a haunted mansion in the midst of dying Kentucky coal town.

But her new novel is like nothing I’ve read before.

The Everlasting (Tor, Oct. 28) is a genre-defying story that involves a legendary lady knight and a cowardly historian. Sir Una Everlasting was an orphaned girl who became a great knight, according to centuries of legends and stories. Owen Mallory is a struggling scholar who failed as a soldier. Given the centuries between them, they should never have met, but they do and find that they have the chance to rewrite history.

The Everlasting has knights and queens. And a quest. And time travel. The story made me think of how hard it is to discern the true stories behind our own real-life historical figures from the legends built around them through time. And of course, there is a great love story, too.

In a recent What We’re Reading conversation, Alix E. Harrow explained where her unique and deeply inventive stories come from.

“I think a lot of what the author Nicola Griffith, who's one of my favorite writers, said about inspiration--it's not a moment. She thinks of it more as a box and that you are always putting things in the box, whether you know it or not. And then eventually, something sort of amalgamates in there and what comes out is your inspiration.”

The Everlasting specifically was inspired by the “lady knight” or “girls with swords” books Alix read in her younger years. She cited books like Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, Tamora Pierce’s “Song of the Lioness” series, and Sherwood Smith’s Crown Duel.

The common thread, according to Alix? “It's kind of a girl's coming-of-age narrative where she specifically studies or obtains this particularly violent power of some kind. Like she's a knight, she gets armor, she gets a sword. She becomes powerful in a really particular way that hit for me because it was definitely a gendered type of heroism that I felt was a little bit inaccessible to me that really fulfilled a specific dream of mine.”

The Everlasting also highlights the discrepancies between the legends of Sir Una and her actual lived life. Alix explained that our ideals of knighthood are tied to heroism and chivalry but in actuality knights were “private security for wealthy landowners.” These ideals and the romannce of traditional knight stories hide the true stories.

She said, “Because I do think I was intentionally mimicking real-world…examples of states or empires employing particular mythological histories to justify their present-day actions. Like what the British Empire did with the Arthurian myth cycle. Like what present day American fascists do with their need to control a specific vision of American history, right? Like they're telling a really particular narrative that will justify who's in power now, who's not in power, who belongs and who doesn't belong.”

At its core, The Everlasting is a love story. A fan of the romance genre, Alix had not written a story before where a romance was so central to the plot and relationship of her characters, and she found that writing the romance was no easy feat.

She explained, “I think we all have this slightly rude assumption in our heads that like, ‘Oh, you could just write a romance in there. You could just put in a love story.’ But it takes a lot of thought about making two people that have significant barriers to being together but also make sense and inevitably will come together.”

But Sir Una and Owen are not traditional love interests: Una with her bravery and physical strength; Owen with his “slim shoulders” and spectacles. Alix pointed out that there’s nothing wrong with traditional gender assumptions in straight romances, but she was telling a different story—a lady knight story.

“I really wanted to flip that a little bit in particular because I think that the idea of a lady knight inherently has some gender subversion to it.”

Learn more about The Everlasting and Alix E. Harrow’s other books on her website.

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What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Tracy Kampa, children's librarian at the Grand Rapids Area Library is back for another season of recommendations for What We're Reading.

Across the Ice: How We Saved the Ojibwe Horse, by Darcy Whitecrow and Heather M. O'Connor, with illustrations by Natasha Donovan.

Tracy's take: Have you ever heard of the Ojibwe horse? I hadn't. The Ojibwe horse is a wild breed that once lived among the Ojibwe people in northern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario. The Ojibwe used the horses to help run their trap lines, pull sleighs, and haul wood. In return, the people fed the horses through long winters. In the spring, the horses would carry the people to their summer camps and then run free until fall, when the Ojibwe would round them up once again. They used to number in the thousands. When these areas were settled, the horses were often captured and destroyed until by 1977, there were only four left. The Canadian government wanted to eliminate them, calling them a health hazard, but the Ojibwe had bred these horses for many, many generations and thought them their spirit animals. They hatched a plan to save the last four Ojibwe horses, dubbed the “Heist Across the Ice,” which included a solidly frozen lake, a horse trailer, and a trip across the border into Minnesota. Since that time, the herd has been growing slowly until today. There are about 180 Ojibwe horses, including a small handful returned to Lac La Croix First Nation from where the last four had been rescued.

This picture book is an absolutely fascinating read. I'd highly recommend Across the Ice: How We Saved the Ojibwe Horse by Darcy Whitecrow and Heather M. O'Connor, with illustrations by Natasha Donovan.

A Snow Day for Amos McGee, by Philip C. Stead with illustrations by Erin E. Stead.

Tracy's take: I am always so excited when a new Amos McGee book finally reaches my desk. You may remember the first, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, which won the 2011 Caldecott Medal. In that book, Amos McGee, Zookeeper at the City Zoo, was visited and cared for by the zoo animals after Amos didn't show up for work due to illness. The story is gentle. and the double-page spread of the animals on the bus is one of my all-time favorite illustrations. This new third edition to the Amos McGee dynasty is A Snow Day for Amos McGee. Amos loves snow, and every morning he listens to the weather, hoping to hear that snow was expected. My favorite line from the book: "Amos liked to imagine the radio was a crackling fireplace. He warmed himself each day with the possibility of good news." Isn't that a lovely thought? Amos, while waiting, is also knitting warm gifts for his animal friends. And of course, one day it actually snows. Amos and the animals celebrate with all the good things of winter. building snow owls, sliding, making snow angels, filling the bird feeders, and of course, ending the day with hot chocolate.

This book is gentle and beautiful, and in my opinion, perfect. It is a book that forces the reader to slow down and remember the joy that comes from simplicity, generosity, and creating shared memories. Please give yourself a reminder of the goodness that exists. Spend some time with Amos and his friends in A Snow Day for Amos McGee, written by Philip C. Stead with beautiful illustrations by Erin E. Stead.

Isle of Ever, by Jen Calonita.

Tracy's take: I couldn't wait to start Isle of Ever by Jen Calonita. And the book didn't disappoint. It has all the hallmarks of a great read: a downtrodden family visited by a lawyer who reveals that Everly Benedict is actually the heir to a vast fortune. But to get the fortune, she must play and win a game that was set forth by her ancestors 200 years earlier. The game has a deadline. It must be won by June 12, 2025, fewer than two weeks away. Benny, as she is known to her friends and family, and her mother are swept off to their ancestral home, and she is given the first clue.

What follows is a wonderful story filled with mystery and intrigue. The clues and discoveries are meted out at the perfect pace, and more than once, I caught myself thinking, 'Huh, I didn't see that coming.' There are hidden passages and dark and stormy nights, a one-eyed cat, and a 200-year-old diary with missing entries. There are friends trying to decipher meaning and combing through attics and basements in their desperate search. There is a missing island with perhaps people who need rescuing. There is the appearance of the blood orange moon, which only happens every 200 years. The final scene sees this all come together with a probable solution, as long as you believe that islands can disappear and reappear. And I was turning pages with speed and anticipation at the end. And then...the end! This, it turns out, is the first in a series, and the second won't be out until March. I highly recommend this book, but if cliffhangers are not your style, I'd put it on your March To-Read list so you can move right into book two. For those of you who don't mind a little wait for your answers, check out Isle of Ever by Jen Calonita.

Tracy's take: Have you ever had a book in your TBR (to-be-read) pile that you just didn't want to read? But then it kept showing up on the best of lists, and in my case, on lots of mock Newbery lists. Yeah, me too. There was nothing that compelled me to pick up The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest.

But of course, I did flip open the cover, giving myself permission to stop after two chapters. And, of course, I didn't stop. Because, as usual, everybody who had actually read the book was correct. It is fantastic.

Clare the fox is undead, which means he lives on the very edge of life, and his job is to usher animals to their afterlives. His forest is awash in eternal autumn, not quite dead. but certainly not full of life. Periodically, he gets a knock on the door and opens to find a very confused animal. Clare gently answers questions and gives his memorized speech explaining that each animal can now go to one of four realms, peace, pleasure, progress, or pain, depending on what they enjoyed in life. One of four colored lights will help lead the newly deceased to their destiny. Clare sends them off with a safe travels, and he listens for a soft, low crackle, indicating the afterlife has accepted a new soul. Clare then returns to his mushroom gardening. This peace is soon interrupted when the badger, Gingersnipes, arrives. Gingersnipes is not allowed into any realm, and she is continually led back to Clare's door after each attempt. Neither Clare nor Gingersnipes are happy about the situation, and together they set off to find answers. Their journey not only goes beyond Deadwood Forest, which puts Clare in mortal danger, but it also is a more eternal journey, one Clare never expected to take. And soon, it will be All Hallows' Eve, the one night when all four realms are open, and it is supremely dangerous for ushers to be outside. But as you may have guessed, this one night will be unlike anything Clare has ever experienced. The ending of this tale took my breath away.

If you like your fantasies with a little bit of mystery and a whole lot of intelligence, don't miss The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman.

Ask for these books at your local public library. Happy readings!

Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Tess Bright is a B-list actress cast in a role of a lifetime in a film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. It’s her last chance to prove herself as a serious actress but her co-star is Hugh Balfour, a serious British method actor who wants nothing to do with Tess. The two fizzle out on camera, but off camera, the sparks fly—their disdain for one another comes to a head just in time for an electrical accident which send the two back in time 200 years. Tess and Hugh will have to work together now to blend into the 19th century so they can find a way to get back to their time.

This is New York writer Madeline Bell’s debut adult novel The Austen Affair, a romance with just a twist of fantasy and a tribute and love letter to the British writer Jane Austen. Fans of Austen will appreciate Madeline’s authentic recreation of the Regency era and thrill in the references to Austen’s other novels and movies throughout the story. Madeline is also the author of two young adult novels under the pen name Christine Calella.

But Jane Austen and…time travel? In a recent What We’re Reading interview, Madeline explained, “The impetus of the time travel thing is really that I'm just a huge history nerd. I was a history major in college and one of my favorite daydreams is just the idea of ‘Oh, if I somehow fell into the past—how would I survive that era?’ So, it was a really natural thing to collide with my love of Jane Austen…How would you survive in the Regency era if you just landed there by accident one day?”

The Austen Affair also features an enemies to lovers arc, pitting the character Tess against Hugh. It’s Madeline’s favorite literary trope.

She said, “I think that it is actually a lot deeper than most people give it credit for because the idea of someone hating you and then loving you implies that they've seen you at your worst and they love you anyway…I do have to credit Jane Austen as being sort of the initiator of that trope. Pride and Prejudice is the ultimate enemies to lovers, so it felt like a good tribute to have here.”

And speaking of Pride and Prejudice, it’s Madeline’s favorite Jane Austen novel. She explained, “I really wish that I had a more interesting answer...It's Pride and Prejudice. It's the best one. It's not overrated in my mind. It's appropriately rated. It's famous for a reason.”

Learn more about Madeline Bell’s The Austen Affair here.

Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Minnesota writer Tasha Coryell’s new thriller Matchmaking for Psychopaths is so full of twists, turns and thrills that sometimes she’s at a loss as to how to describe this new book without giving too much away.

She explained, “I try not to delve too deep into what the other surprises are, because I know that's part of the reason why thriller readers are reading what they are, right? Because you want things to surprise you and you want to be kept guessing and make guesses yourself. And that's the joy of reading. And so it is this really tricky balance.”

What we can tell you about Matchmaking for Psychopaths is that the story centers around a woman named Lexie. After Lexie's fiancée leaves her for her best friend on Lexie's birthday, she throws herself into her work—she's a matchmaker for psychopaths. Strange new clients get too involved in her private life, and then a human heart appears on Lexie's doorstep, just as her ex mysteriously disappears.

While Tasha’s books usually play with dark themes, she does draw from lighter components of her real life as well. She’s recently acknowledged to friends who work at non-profit organizations that she drew on that aspect of their lives for characters in a previous book.

She said, “They were like, ‘Oh, yeah, we recognized ourselves in that…’ So, I take small things or even just like silly things--like all of the characters in the book really like to watch reality television. And I like a lot of reality television. So I was able to include my thoughts on that and my experiences with that.”

In Matchmaking for Psychopaths, the character Lexie’s obsession with reality television illustrates her loneliness and desire for connection and intimacy, but it is also an outlet for Tasha, as a new parent.

She explained, “There are a lot of conversations right now about a loneliness crisis or people are hanging out with one another less than they used to…It's really difficult to make plans with adult friends because I don't really leave the house at night…but I still long for connection. And I think in some ways reality television sort of fills that void because the people on reality television can start to feel like friends.”

While Tasha’s books can show the darker side of us all, they also play around with humor. Tasha credits her own sometimes dark sense of humor as an approach to life.

“I think because there are a lot of serious things going on every day, it becomes really overwhelming…But I think that humor makes consuming difficult topics more palatable. I can read about very dark and difficult things as long as it's also funny. And I feel that way about writing too.”

Learn more about Tasha Coryell and her books on her website.

Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

In his new book Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion, Chris DeVille, music journalist and managing editor at Stereogum, reminisces how in the early 2000s the internet was becoming a hub for music discovery and fan communities.

He writes, “I didn't realize it then, but this was a paradigm shift. I drilled down into a world that existed just beneath the mainstream, into a subculture that would transform the way I approached music for better and for worse. Life would never be the same again. I had discovered indie rock.”

In a recent What We’re Reading interview with KAXE producer Andrew Dziengel, Chris DeVille explained why the time was right for this book.

“It felt like the timing was right partially because we had some distance from it. And also, I felt like we were starting to see some historical books about that era, notably Meet Me in the Bathroom (2017), the oral history of New York during the time of The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol and all that. And so, we're starting to see that moment kind of canonized in books, but I have not seen as much about the way that rippled into the 2010s.”

The cultural aspects of this time play an important role in what set the indie rock era apart from other times and other music. Specifically: technology and the internet. Chris acknowledged the impact of the internet on nearly all aspects of indie rock music coming out of the 2010s.

“I don't think I had fully comprehended how much it was going to be a tech-oriented book until I started mapping it out…This really is in a lot of ways the story of the evolution of the internet over the last couple of decades. And that's part of the way that I tried to connect it to people's lives.”

Perhaps the biggest draw to Such Great Heights is nostalgia. The bands and the popular culture of the time are bound to sweep up readers in waves of memories. Chris admitted, “It was definitely a trip down memory lane for me. I think I was trying to say that even if somebody wasn't the hugest indie fan, if they're of the right age, they will probably relate to this book.”

Learn more about Chris DeVille’s debut book Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion here.

Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

GRAND RAPIDS - Writer Anne-Marie Erickson and her husband Dick Cain lived a simple and deliberate life in a log cabin they built together in the Northwoods. After increasing signs of memory loss beyond the levels of natural aging, Dick received a diagnosis of dementia, and Anne-Marie realized the two of them would need to build yet a new life.

Anne-Marie recounts their journey together in her new book In the Evening, We’ll Dance: A Memoir in Essays on Love & Dementia.

While the book provides insight into caring for a spouse as their health steadily declines, what really shines is Anne-Marie and Dick’s story of love, told through her compelling and lyrical voice.

Literature, philosophy, spirituality and art were touchstones in their lives and Anne-Marie drew on this to tell their story.

“It's like a tapestry in a way that incorporates what had made our lives together so rich all along... And I tried to create something that resembled that. It was the only way to stay sane in the middle of all of that, because things were falling apart. And so how do you hold it together? The best way I knew was to put words to it and try to make meaning out of it.”

Dick lived with dementia for 17 years. Anne-Marie noted, “I had 17 years of losing him and so I had 17 years to adjust myself to the fact that I would lose him.”

After years of taking care of Dick at home, Anne-Marie explained that the decision to finally move him into an assisted living facility would be one of the hardest losses for her.

“I think in a way that was even worse than his death because he was still alive. But he wasn't in our home anymore. And I felt like it was a betrayal of him in some ways, but I know he was at the point where I just could not help him stay safe in our home anymore.”

Dick passed away in 2015 and since, Anne-Marie has endured, noting, “As much as I miss him and as much as he was the love of my life and as much as I miss living in the light of his love--it's that light, maybe, that I'm carrying in the way in which I live in the world now.”

Learn more about Anne-Marie Erickson and her book here.

Anne-Marie Erickson is a fiscal year 2025 recipient of a Creative Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

“Go outside and find a tree. Introduce yourself.” This is advice found in the new children’s book How to Draw a Tree, story by David LaRochelle and illustrations by Colleen Muske.

David LaRochelle and Colleen Muske are both Minnesota writers and illustrators who've teamed up for this lovely new picture book from the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

In a recent What We’re Reading interview, David explained how his love of trees was just one inspiration for this book—the other, was advice from an art teacher in college who said, “You should spend at least as much time looking at your subject as you do looking at your paper when you're drawing.”

David has found that this advice still holds true.

“I know when I'm drawing, I have an image in my head or I think, ‘Oh, this is how a tree looks’ and I start drawing it on my paper and I'm just focused on my paper. And when I do that, I draw the same tree over and over and over again… But when you spend time to actually look at different trees--the variety is incredible, and that's really the same thing with anything that you draw,” he said.

How to Draw a Tree encourages readers to slow down and take the time to truly consider a tree’s shape, texture, colors, leaves, roots, and even noises. The story is wonderfully enhanced by Colleen Muske’s vibrant illustrations with delightful details.

While one could be forgiven for thinking that the author and the illustrator work side by side on picture books, David pointed out that the story and illustrations are typically done independent of each other, as was the case with this book.

He explained, “I wrote the words and our editor at Minnesota Historical Society Press, Shannon Pennefeather--we did the editing on the story and when the story was all set, they turned it over to Colleen and it was all in her hands after that. I think the only comments that I made is that it was really important to me that there was a wide variety of trees and a wide variety of locations, and if you look at Colleen's drawings you can see she did that so well, and she would have done that on her own, I'm sure, too, even without that input from me.”

Of this process Colleen added, “It gave me more freedom to do some different landscapes where those trees belong, which I had a lot of fun. I find it interesting that we don't chat with each other it...But as just the illustrator, I have a freedom to do with those words with what I want, and I don't have any preconceived notion about what's tied to those words.” 

For more information on David and Colleen, and to view their other books and illustrations, visit their websites:

• David LaRochelle
• Colleen Muske

Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Journalist and author Hayley Krischer tackles the dark side of the wellness industry in her new young adult thriller You Belong to Me.

Hayley is the author of The Falling Girls, Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf and the adult fiction book, Where Are You, Echo Blue? She’s also written for The New York Times, Elle and The Atlantic.

In You Belong to Me, we meet high school student Frances Bean, seemingly comfortable in her group of goth outcast friends until a rich and popular girl she’s had a crush on for years shows interest in her. Julia is the daughter of a famous wellness guru and Frances Bean is welcomed into their rich and extravagant world with open arms and positive messages of empowerment. But things quickly take a dark turn.

Hayley Krischer’s novel in particular shines a light on the wellness industry. In a recent What We’re Reading interview, Hayley noted how big the industry has become.

“Today everything is wellness. Wellness is a $480 million industry, and it's supposed to hit $9 trillion by 2028. And you know there's even a Barbie wellness collection.”

Hayley additionally noted how the industry has targeted teens via social media, marketing their products and the wellness lifestyle through celebrities with cult-like tactics, and that teens are spending more money on beauty and wellness products than in previous years.

She explained, “A lot of especially celebrity wellness brands right now--they're so incredibly influential. One of the…steadfast rules of a cult or red flag is that they have no tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.”

Hayley noted that while the wellness industry tactics do influence adult consumers, it is harder for adolescent consumers to see through marketing ploys and influence.

“A friend of mine the other day called me and said ‘Why is my 12-year-old daughter buying … [a] very expensive skin care line that sold at Sephora? The moisturizer is $70. I mean, my daughter doesn't need this.’ She spent all her money that she got from the year, like from the holidays and her birthday. But her daughter is just one of millions. This is this is a real thing right now.”

Learn more about Hayley Krischer and her work on her website.

Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Digging into family history can lead to interesting discoveries and insights into your family’s dynamics. Debbie Russell, Minnesota lawyer-turned-writer, experienced this firsthand and shares her discoveries in her debut book Crossing Fifty-One: Not Quite a Memoir.

In a recent What We’re Reading interview Debbie explained that she called the book “Not Quite a Memoir” because it is largely a multi-generational story. About 10 years ago, as her father Ralph’s health was deteriorating due to Parkinson’s Disease, she made a discovery in a box of old family memorabilia.

Debbie said, “In one of these boxes was this very pristine file folder that was bound with a rubber band, and it really looked like it had never been opened.”

In that folder Debbie discovered that her grandfather, who was a doctor, admitted himself to a “narcotics farm” in 1951 for rehabilitation for an addiction to the drugs he was using to manage his asthma.

Debbie explained further, “He flew to Fort Worth, Texas and never came home. And I think that was kind of a surprise to the rest of the family, given that it was a week or so before Christmas...He made kind of an impulsive decision to just stay there…”

The folder also included letters between Debbie’s grandfather and the rest of the family during his four-month rehabilitation, giving Debbie a unique view into this period of family history. Many of the letters were from Debbie’s father, allowing her insight into his younger self.

As Debbie investigated, there were many questions she wanted to ask her father. But finding time alone with him became difficult--with her father’s ailing health, her mother became overly protective of him and her and Debbie’s already troubled relationship became more volatile. Debbie reached a point where she knew she needed to seek out therapy to help her deal with the wide range of events suddenly coming to a head.

Crossing Fifty-One is extensively researched and documented, which is not surprising given Debbie was a lawyer for 25 years. But making the switch to creative writing from legal writing was a challenge. When she knew she wanted to tell this story, she prepared by taking creative writing courses and honing her craft through her blog.

Debbie’s father passed away in 2018, at the age of 90. She is grateful for having the chance to learn more about her father’s life and how he was the quiet glue keeping their family together despite dysfunctional family dynamics.

Debbie is also grateful for the feedback she’s received from sharing her story.

“Just being out and about and connecting with people who have gone through similar situations…it's just been remarkable. I feel very free. I feel really connected…it has presented me with gifts far beyond what I could have imagined.”

More information on Debbie Russell and her book Crossing Fifty-One: Not Quite a Memoir can be found on her website.

Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

It started as an idea from some people involved with The Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis about 4 years ago: create a cookbook of immigrant recipes.

Among this group of people were Linda S. Svitak and Christin Jaye Eaton, lawyer and attorney, respectively, who volunteer with the Advocates. Food writer and former editor of the Minnesota Star Tribune Taste section, Lee Svitak Dean was eventually brought in, as well as Minnesota Star Tribune photographer, Tom Wallace.

The result of this group effort is a beautiful book with contributors’ immigration stories and culinary journeys, followed by their cherished recipes from home. In a recent What We’re Reading interview, Lee Svitak Dean recalled how the book became much more than a cookbook.

“As we started collecting recipes…and we started talking with people and realizing that the stories behind the recipes were so compelling that we really had to feature those stories as well. You couldn't have one without the other. And so, I like to think of this as a book where you come for the stories, you stay for the recipes.”

As far as the recipes themselves, many in Kitchens of Hope are comfort foods: cabbage rolls, dumplings, rice, soups, and stews. Lee noted, “Either that or a dish that they would use for a celebration…So these were the really important dishes.”

Some dishes that stood out for Lee particularly, included khichdi, a lentils and rice dish from Pakistan. She explained, “It's a combination of rice and a very specific kind of lentil called moong lentils. And they're cooked together. It's a very simple dish, very, very homespun, but it's served with this fabulous cream sauce and little cucumbers and tomatoes and frankly anything you want…it’s simple and just really great.”

Lee also noted that besides chicken, rice was one of the most popular ingredients to show up in the recipes. She noted, “There were a couple versions of biryani, which is a rice pilaf dish. Basically, we've got a version from India and another version from Iraq and another rice dish called uzbek palaw from Afghanistan--kind of all variations of the same thing where you've got lots of spices, vegetables, and meat.”

It would be difficult to read this book and not think about how immigration has always been a complex issue in this country and even more so now with the current administration’s controversial immigration policies and actions. But this makes Kitchens of Hope even more timely and relevant.

Lee explained, “We wanted to show that immigrants, all sorts of immigrants--they're not coming here taking things; they're coming here bringing things with them. The people that we interviewed have really amazing stories of not only the resilience and determination to get here, but what they have done for their communities as well. Both their communities here in the U.S. as well as the obligations that they feel towards those in their homeland. And to me, those are just really quite remarkable tales to tell.”

For more information on Kitchens of Hope, visit the University of Minnesota Press website.

Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.