A Place at the Table, Paperback

A timely, accessible, and beautifully written story exploring themes of food, friendship, family and what it means to belong, featuring sixth graders Sara, a Pakistani American, and Elizabeth, a white, Jewish girl taking a South Asian cooking class taught by Sara's mom.

Sixth graders Sara and Elizabeth could not be more different. Sara is at a new school that is completely unlike the small Islamic school she used to attend. Elizabeth has her own problems: her British mum has been struggling with depression.

The girls meet in an after-school South Asian cooking class, which Elizabeth takes because her mom has stopped cooking, and which Sara, who hates to cook, is forced to attend because her mother is the teacher. The girls form a shaky alliance that gradually deepens, and they make plans to create the most amazing, mouth-watering cross-cultural dish together and win a spot on a local food show.

They make good cooking partners... but can they learn to trust each other enough to become true friends?

Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American author, essayist, interfaith activist, and author of three middle-grade books as well as the Yasmin books, an early reader series about a Pakistani American girl. She lives with her husband and children in Houston, Texas, where she is editor in chief of Blue Minaret, a magazine for Muslim art, poetry, and prose. Laura Shovan is the author of The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary and Takedown. A Place at the Table is her third middle-grade book. She lives with her family in Maryland, where she is a longtime poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council.

• Dimensions: 201 x 130
• Author: Saadia Faruqi
• Cover type: Paperback
• Publishing Year: 2022
• Publishing Month: 4
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Weight: 227 g