Book Review: Mama’s Chicken and Dumplings by Dionna L. Mann

Publisher’s description

Growing up in segregated 1930’s Charlottesville, ten-year-old Allie is determined to find a man for her mama to marry— but not just any man will do!

Allie’s life with Mama isn’t bad, but she knows it could be better if Mama would find someone to marry. Allie’s worst enemy, her NOT-friend Gwen, has a daddy, and Allie wants someone like that—someone to fix things when they break, someone who likes to sing, and has a kind-smile.

So Allie makes a plan—her super secret Man-For-Mama plan. She has a list of candidates with a clear top choice: Mr. Johnson, who owns the antique store. Best of all, Mr. Johnson went to school with Mama, and he wants to get reacquainted! The battle’s half won, and Allie is sure that when he tries Mama’s yummy chicken and dumplings, he’ll be head over heels.

But someone else is interested in Mama: Mr. Coles, Allie’s teacher, who’s also Gwen’s uncle! Mama can’t marry him—no way is Allie going to be related to Gwen. On top of it all, Allie’s best friend is moving to Chicago; Allie keeps getting in trouble; and everyone seems to think she’s jealous of Gwen, for some reason. Nothing is going how she planned, but Allie is determined to get things back on track toward the life she knows she and Mama both deserve. . . even if Mama doesn’t agree yet.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Amanda’s thoughts

This was a really solid read. 10-year-old Allie has lots of big feelings, especially about her best friend moving away and about her desire to find her mother a husband so she (Allie) can have a dad like she sees (and envies) other kids getting to have. Allie is the best kind of scheming, meddling busybody that I love to see in middle grade books. She’s feisty (see her brawl with Gwen), sassy (or, as her mother would say, has an attitude—see her mad marching and door-slamming), and lets her imagination run away with her (see her entire scheme to get a daddy). She doesn’t always make good choices, she suffers unpleasant consequences, and she’s quick with a comeback. She lives in the Vinegar Hill neighborhood of Charlottesville, in the 1930s, and deals with the segregation and racism of the era, but her most pressing concerns are about the loss of best pal Jewel (who moves to Chicago), her rivalry with Gwen, and her hopes for her mother to marry. She’s nosy and truly cannot mind her own business (something her mother makes her try to remember to do by making her write it 100 times). As her mother says, she’s headstrong. It’s a quality I found hard to parent (see my entire time raising my son) but love as an actual attribute in people both real and fictional. Allie has a PLAN and she will carry it out… even if it seems like it might not turn out exactly how she hopes. It’s a hard lesson, learning that things sometimes don’t turn out how you planned. Almost as hard a lesson as learning that people who were certain were odious enemies just maybe have some good in them after all.

A well-written debut that’s not to be missed.

Review copy (ARC) courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9780823455553
Publisher: Holiday House/Margaret Ferguson Books
Publication date: 08/06/2024
Age Range: 8 – 11 Years

Filed under: Book Reviews