Kwame Onwuachi was only 26 when he opened his first restaurant. That this restaurant failed within three months is part of what makes his autobiography a valuable read for young adults. Notes from a Young Black Chef (Adapted for Young Adults) is an anti-racist, inspirational and true story that ends not with our YA protagonist getting everything he wanted, but with a real person experiencing loss and continuing to persevere.
The young adult adaptation of Notes reads as a straightforward autobiography in which the author baldly displays his truth: "I have grown up in the knock-about projects. In the Bronx, I've been the kid on the corner, but I have also spent time in Nigeria with my grandfather... where there were no projects, no blocks, no corners." Even in this quick history, though, Onwuachi clarifies, "Not everyone from the Bronx comes from the streets"--he lived on a "tree-lined and quiet" street and "grew up" in the projects through his friendships. His autobiography brings the reader what feels like an extremely authentic account of his life: an abusive father, drug dealing, life in Nigeria, working in kitchens, going to the Culinary Institute, appearing on Top Chef. This is not a "rags to riches" story--and Onwuachi wants readers to know that.
Joshua David Stein works with Onwuachi to build an open, honest and deeply interesting autobiography of someone who is still very young. "I'm standing on stories," Onwuachi says of the lives of his ancestors, "and this is my own." What better book to give a youth than one that shows the world as it is--institutionalized racism, beating the odds and all? --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor