ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
INTERMEDIATE FICTION
O'Shaughnessy, Kate

Lasagna Means I Love You

352 pp. | Knopf | February, 2023 | Trade ISBN 9781984893871 $17.99 | Library ISBN 9781984893888 $20.99 | Ebook ISBN 9781984893895 $10.99
(2) 4-6 After the death of Nan, the grandmother who had been her guardian, eleven-year-old Mo begins a series of letters to Nan in a notebook. She relates the difficulties of her next steps: an uncle is unwilling to care for her; a foster parent gives her up, overwhelmed in part by challenges including her stress-induced bed-wetting; another placement that looks like it might work out has its own obstacles. A family cookbook (stolen but later returned) makes Mo wish she had meaningful recipes of her own, and the cooking project the book inspires grows into a food website. She uses that platform to solicit other people's recipes--and to put the word out that she's in search of blood relatives. Mo, imperfections and all, is a winning heroine surrounded by flawed though mostly well-meaning adults, and her hopes, even those that are long shots, come from an understandable desperation for family and stability, which makes it easy to root for her. Secondary characters are fully realized, with personalities coming through in the interspersed recipes' directions and commentary. To be read with snacks at hand, and perhaps also some tissues.
Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

RELATED 

INTERMEDIATE FICTION

The Republic of Birds
by Miller, Jessica
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Atlantis
by Mone, Gregory
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

It Doesn't Take a Genius
by Rhuday-Perkovich, Olugbemisola
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls
by Rivera, Kaela
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Soul Lanterns
by Kuzki, Shaw
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?