Book Review: Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

 Meet the Book…

Maillard, Kevin Noble. (2019). Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story. Roaring Brook Press.

Summary: Fry bread is a food staple in Native American culture, a common food that’s unique to each tribe and its experiences. Told in verse, Fry Bread shows a diverse Native American family going through the steps of making fry bread, with an afterword that further explains fry bread’s history. It has won many awards, including the 2020 Robert F. Sibert International Book Medal, a Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2019 award, and a National Public Radio (NPR) Best Book of 2019 (Macmillan Publishers 2020). 

This was a quick read, with repetitive phrases and wonderful illustrations showing a Native American family of all body types, skin colors, abilities, and ages. Maillard gives his personal recipe for fry bread at the end (which I tried out!). He also connects the repetitive phrases in the book “fry bread food, fry bread is shape...” and follows up with his own experiences as a Native American man growing up and the traditions of fry bread, his thoughts on the recipe, and more.

I loved how he came back to these phrases and gave his own explanation behind them, as well as pointing out specific details in the illustrations and their meanings. For example, Maillard brings the reader’s attention to the bowl the grandmother is mixing the dough in, specifically its designs. He goes on to explain that it is a bowl made by Native American artist Afton Quail, which was displayed in the Seminole Nation Museum. Details like this, which at first are skimmed over and then explained later, wrap the story further in Native American traditions and heritage. I appreciated these details and homage to Native American culture; they were little hidden love notes that made me flip back and see the designs in a new light. 

The grandmother's bowl is one made by Native American artist Afton Quall.

I adored the illustrations and, again, attention to details. The full page spreads were beautiful, and made me smile at the warmth and happiness of the family working together for this tradition.

My favorite page is of the family in front of different Indigenous communities and nations, looking and pointing; these names are in the front and back covers as well. It’s a simple detail but very powerful all the same.

While this is a heartwarming story that depicts a wonderful, loving family working together to create this traditional dish, the deeper history behind fry bread and how it came to be is not heartwarming (to say the least). As Indigenous communities were pushed out of their homes and lands and given rations by the US government. Denied fresh foods and vegetables, Native Americans made what they could to survive and thus fry bread was created. It is a symbol of resilience, of resistance in the face of cruel power, but it is also a symbol of family and community, coming together to eat and nourish one another. 

Winnie helping me choose my favorite illustrations from "Fry Bread".

Readalikes:

School Age -

The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson

Tweens -

Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigengous Heroes by Wab Kinew

Teens -

What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous Stories of Rebellion and Renewal by Eldon Yellowhorn

Resources

Macmillan Publishers. (2020). Fry Bread. Retrieved from: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626727465