Eliza, from Scratch

Starred review from March 15, 2025
A scheduling complication shakes up the life of Korean American senior Eliza Park. Overachiever Eliza is horrified that she's been placed in Culinary Arts instead of AP Physics. At wealthy and competitive Highland Hills, this unweighted course may threaten her projected salutatorian status, especially since Eliza has no experience in the kitchen. Used to being the best, she's immediately riled up by her assigned partner, experienced foodie Wesley Ruengsomboon, who's Thai American. But perhaps Eliza's exploration of recipes left by her recently passed halmeoni will help her reconnect with her grieving mother. Culinary Arts sets Eliza on a humbling journey of growth, not only in how she thinks about academics but also in her approach to relationships with family, friends, and Wesley, who becomes less annoying as she gets to know him. Debut author Lee beautifully explores these themes and more with humor and heart. Eliza is a charming narrator; she's realistically flawed, and her self-awareness and efforts to improve are compelling. Through cooking lessons with her mom, Eliza begins to think deeply about her mother's life experiences and the realities of immigration, giving her an impetus to reflect on her conflicted connection to South Korea and the relatives there she's spent little time with. Eliza develops insights into the importance of communication and mutual support among friends, and she and Wesley challenge each other's perceptions, particularly about how to measure success. Tender, balanced, and nuanced; a story to savor.(Fiction. 13-18)

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Starred review from May 1, 2025
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Eliza Park is a good student; she's gifted and willing to put in the work over her high-school career to clinch salutatorian status. But at the start of senior year, a schedule snafu occurs, and she winds up in culinary arts, a class that not only lacks GPA weighting but also highlights her distinct lack of culinary skills. After she's paired up with the immediately annoying Wesley Ruengsomboon on a group project, she embarks on cooking lessons with her mom, who's mourning the loss of Eliza's grandmother. Eliza and Wesley are each angling to win the class cook-off at the end of the semester, but the longer they spend in the kitchen together, the more attraction grows between them. Over the course of the book, Eliza learns not just how to cook her grandmother's traditional Korean recipes with a twist, but also how to interact with her grieving mother and maybe even how to think about herself in a new way. Wesley's passion for cooking inspires Eliza, and the book is full of tantalizing cooking scenes sure to entice the most kitchen-wary of readers. In the kitchen, Wesley and Eliza each teach the other important lessons and have impactful conversations about their Asian American identities and relationships with their families. Lee's delicious debut will surely satiate readers.

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