“Best Batch I Ever Fried”: Food and Family in Jacqueline

Woodson’s Picture Books

Michelle H. Martin

Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature, Volume 52, Number

4, 2014, pp. 107-112 (Article)

Published by Johns Hopkins University Press

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/bkb.2014.0143

For additional information about this article

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/557401

[ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ]
 Woodson’s Picture Books
Food and Family in Jacqueline
“Best Batch I Ever Fried”:
I
n a May 2009 Horn Book article, “Still Hot: Great Food by Michelle H. Martin
Moments in Children’s Literature,” author Linda Sue Park
writes: “our choice of food is neither trivial nor merely personal
but has lasting social and cultural significance” (232). Children’s
literature scholar Leona Fisher affirms this idea in her essay, “Nancy
Drew and the ‘F’ Word,” published in Kara Keeling and Scott
Pollard’s 2008 anthology, Critical Approaches to Food in Children’s
Literature. She argues that in the Nancy Drew books, food persists
throughout the series as a “signifier of protagonists’ privileged status
and ability to consume at will . . . also serving as a moral marker
of both genteel poverty and criminality” (1682). While food can
Michelle H. Martin, the inaugural Augusta
indicate wealth, the inability to consume (or produce) food can just Baker Endowed Chair in Childhood Literacy
as firmly define a character’s lower social and socioeconomic status. at the University of South Carolina, teaches
children’s and young adult literature in
In Carolyn Daniel’s introduction to Voracious Children: Who Eats the School of Library and Information
Whom in Children’s Literature, she notes: “Food events are always Science. She is the author of Brown Gold:
Milestones of African-American Children’s
significant, in reality as well as in fiction. They reveal the funda- Picture Books, 1845-2002 (Routledge
mental preoccupations, ideas and beliefs of society” (1). 2004). (48 words)

© 2014 by Bookbird, Inc.

“Best Batch I Ever Fried”: Food and Family in Jacqueline Woodson’s Picture Books

In the selection of Jacqueline Woodson’s African-American chil-

dren’s picture books that this essay analyzes, the centrality of food
in children’s lives in large part defines who they are: We Had a Picnic
This Sunday Past (1997) illustrated by Diane Greenseid; Sweet, Sweet
Memory (2000), illustrated by Floyd Cooper; Visiting Day (2002), illus-
trated by James E. Ransome; Our Gracie Aunt (2002), illustrated by Jon
J. Muth; Coming On Home Soon, illustrated by E. B. Lewis (2004) and
Pecan Pie Baby (2012), illustrated by Sophie Blackall. In these picture
books intended for younger readers, the privilege of growing, preparing,
consuming, and enjoying food represents belonging within a circle of
family care. Hence, Woodson makes food a textual centerpiece that
teaches her child protagonists what family means, situates them within
a particular socioeconomic class, and prescribes their role within the
family, community, and social power structures while also providing
rich material for story-making.
In several of Woodson’s picture books, those who grow and prepare
food bind families together. In Sweet, Sweet Memory, Sarah’s recently
deceased Grandpa still has lettuce, corn, collards, squash and tomatoes
growing in the yard. Grandpa’s words about the earth that linger like
his plants help Sarah come to terms with his death: “Like us it lives, it
grows . . . Everything and everyone goes on and on.” As Sarah looks out
of the window of Grandpa’s house with one of her female
relatives, readers can see his tall stalks of corn framing
one side of the illustration. This visual reminds readers
that even though Grandpa can no longer tend his garden,
he will continue to contribute tangibly to the life of his
family despite his absence. Near the end of the book,
Grandma promises that they will “eat sweet corn and
have a sweet, sweet memory.” By cooking the food for
Sarah that Grandpa grew, Grandma keeps his memory
alive as well.
The Grandma of the unnamed child protagonist
in Woodson’s Visiting Day also functions as the family
glue whose food preparation helps the child maintain
a connection with their absent relative, in this case her
incarcerated father. The book opens with Grandma
frying chicken at 6:00 a.m. to eat on the bus to the jail.
On the ride, Grandma doles out chicken to riders who
are visiting their own incarcerated relatives, and other
passengers pass around cornbread and sweet potato pie.
Sharing food and getting to know others on this monthly
trip probably make these emotionally draining visits easier. Near the
end of the book, the protagonist relates how she and Grandma bide
their time while they await Daddy’s return: “we can count our blessings
and love each other up and make biscuits and cakes and pretty pictures
to send Daddy.” The narrator’s “we” suggests that the granddaughter has
helped Grandma make the “Daddy” cake that sits next to a cardboard
box, ready to mail. According to Daniel, “the imperative to provide,
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“Best Batch I Ever Fried”: Food and Family in Jacqueline Woodson’s Picture Books

prepare, and cook food is culturally determined and assigned, even in

contemporary society, generally according to gender” (15). Hence, by
involving the child in making a treat for her father, Grandma shares
with her grandchild food preparation tasks that will later help her bring
her own family together, be it a traditional or nontraditional family.
Throughout this beautifully illustrated picture book, Woodson gives
no indication of where the little girl’s mother is, why she lives with
Grandma, or what crime landed her father in jail. None
of that matters. In Ransome’s final image, grandmother
and granddaughter sit on the porch, wrapped together in
a blue blanket, smiling as they “make big plans for when
Daddy comes home again.” All the ways they love him
from afar—with food, handmade art or making plans for
his return—keep Daddy just as present in this home as
Grandpa remains in Sweet, Sweet Memory after his death.
Just as the growth and preparation of an abundance
of food indicates strong family ties, a paucity of food or
limited access to it in Woodson’s picture books can high-
light difficult family dynamics. In both Coming On Home
Soon and Our Gracie Aunt, the children cannot assume
easy or daily access to food. Like the protagonist in
Visiting Day, these children have nontraditional families,
but in these stories, the explanation of why they do not
live with their parent(s) constitutes an important part of
the plot. In Coming on Home Soon, Ada Ruth’s mother has
left for Chicago to earn money for the family, taking a job
that men have abandoned to go fight in World War II. In
Our Gracie Aunt, young narrator Johnson and his older sister Beebee are
living alone in their apartment because their mother—perhaps because
of drug addiction, mental illness or other challenges—has once again
abandoned them.
These families’ financial challenges make food scarce for the children
in both of these stories. Ada Ruth narrates, “There is a war going on.
Some days not much food to speak of. Corn bread and clabber milk
for morning meal and supper.” They drink milk from Grandma’s cow,
and when a black and white kitten shows up one winter day, Grandma
declares, “You know we can’t keep it,” but promptly serves the kitten a
dish of milk. In telling Ada Ruth that the kitten can’t stay, she admits
that they barely have enough food to feed themselves, let alone a pet.
But by being the first to offer the hungry cat a meal, she indicates either
that she suspects the pet will help Ada Ruth deal with missing her
mother, or that no matter how poor they are, they can always share with
one more. After an ice storm, Grandma hunts rabbits and opossums for
stew, but the only meal that Lewis illustrates shows Ada Ruth drinking
hot cocoa and eating “two biscuits from last night’s supper” after the
winter storm. When a letter comes from Mama and money falls out of
the envelope, Ada Ruth describes “Stew cooking on the stove” while she
sits on Grandma’s lap, wrapped up in what appears to be a handmade
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“Best Batch I Ever Fried”: Food and Family in Jacqueline Woodson’s Picture Books

quilt, reading Mama’s letter, while big snow flakes and others by refusing food. When the social
fall outside. Perhaps the money from Mama worker, Miss Roy, takes them from their apart-
makes the stew on the stove more possible. In ment to a restaurant, Johnson asks, incredulously,
both Coming on Home Soon and Visiting Day, the if they can order whatever they want. When
Grandmother, as primary caregiver, feeds and they arrive at Gracie aunt’s house, she is baking
loves the grandchildren while they eagerly await cookies with their names on them. On their first
the parent’s return. And whether the parent can morning with Gracie aunt, the stack of three
or cannot contribute to the family income, neither pancakes Johnson has on his plate for breakfast
grandmother passes judgment on her child but contrasts sharply with the sandwiches Beebee
participates in the granddaughter’s anticipa- fixes for dinner earlier when they were alone in
tion of Mama’s or Daddy’s return. In addition, the apartment. Gracie represents an abundance
neither grandmother complains about sharing of food the children have always lacked, but she
food and other resources with her grandchild; also represents food freedoms they have never
each welcomes the company and share what she experienced. When they help Gracie cook pasta,
has to keep the children and the family whole. Johnson joyously flings spaghetti at the wall
while Beebee holds a platter aloft: “If it stuck, it
was done.” The white background and Beebee’s
yellow shirt and pants and Johnson’s yellow oven
mitts portray joy and excitement about food and
cooking it. This image also portrays the story’s
turning point when the children are beginning
to accept Gracie as family and not an estranged
relative who is attempting to replace their absent
mother. Food punctuates this progress toward
family wholeness: Gracie makes popcorn on
Saturday evenings and lets the kids watch scary
movies with her, and they help her harvest the
ripe vegetables from her garden. When Miss
Roy comes to take them to visit Mama, Johnson
thinks to himself that he no longer wants to live
with his mother:

I thought about the tire swing in our

Gracie aunt’s yard. I thought about me
and Beebee not even saying good-bye to
Our Gracie Aunt addresses much more difficult our Gracie aunt. Then I thought about
family dynamics than the previous texts. When all the nights me and Beebee didn’t eat
Johnson asks Beebee if she thinks Mama is ever ‘cause we didn’t have any food and we
coming home, she says, “She always did before, didn’t know where Mama was. I wanted
right?” Johnson narrates: “Sometimes my mama to go back to our Gracie aunt. There was
went away for a day. Sometimes for a lot of days. always something to eat in her house.
That’s how it was with our mama.” In this picture Every night she gave me a tuck-in. And
book, food—and the lack thereof before Gracie— even though we were big, some nights
serves as a reminder of the absence of family our Gracie aunt let me and Beebee sit on
and often sparks conflicts between Johnson and her lap.
Beebee because he admits his hunger and accepts
food from those who offer it, while she tries to After the visit with Mama and realizing that they
keep a safe emotional distance between herself cannot live with her (yet), the children return to
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“Best Batch I Ever Fried”: Food and Family in Jacqueline Woodson’s Picture Books

Gracie, who then becomes “Aunt Gracie,” instead

of “our Gracie aunt.” Both her ability to provide
food for them and her willingness to offer them
unconditional love and stability enable them to
accept her as their family.
In all of these Woodson picture books,
food helps to define familial relationships but
in Pecan Pie Baby, food helps Gia accept the

visiting and enjoying an overabundance of

southern delights, the story shines a spotlight
on socioeconomic class, power dynamics and the
social structures in place both within the family
and among the community members who attend
the picnic. Both the foods this family consumes
newest member of their nontraditional family, and the way they dress label them as working
the “ding-dang baby” her mother is carrying. class, though they do not suffer from the bouts
Resentful that the baby will disrupt her rela- of poverty that plague the families in Coming On
tionship with Mama and jealous of the space Home Soon and Our Gracie Aunt. On the menu are
the baby will take up, Gia makes clear to her Grandma’s fried chicken (the self-professed best
mother and everyone else that she does not want she ever fried), Auntie Sadie’s “sweet cob corn”
a sibling. But both she and Mama love pecan pie, and Uncle Luther’s cinnamon bread. The summer
and because Mama craves this dessert while she picnickers dress casually: many of the girls and
is pregnant, Gia eventually dubs it “that ding- women wear patterned dresses, and Grandma
dang pecan pie baby.” Mutual love of pie actually sports a big, flouncy hat ringed with flowers that
draws mother and daughter together and helps matches her dress. Protagonist and narrator,
Gia to accept that just as she can share pie with Teeka, comments critically on Grandma’s hat:
the baby in utero, she can share her mother with “Grandma wore her blue dress with all those
the baby after he or she arrives. Gia narrates: flowers on it.” Furthermore, Teeka brags about
“[Mama] knew, just like I did, how much the Cousin Kim, the one relative who has a college
three of us loved ourselves some pecan pie!” degree and a teaching career, which suggests that
While food plays an important role in all of few members of this family are college educated.
these picture books, food takes center stage in Teeka attends the picnic with Grandma, who
We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past and because of may be her primary caregiver, and their interac-
this, many more relationship dynamics surface tions surrounding food reveal a great deal about
surrounding the preparation and consumption of the relationship. While Grandma announces she
food than in the other books. As a large African got up at four to fry chicken and brags about the
American family spends a sunny summer day tastiness of her biscuits, Teeka strikes a pose at
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“Best Batch I Ever Fried”: Food and Family in Jacqueline Woodson’s Picture Books

her elbow, claiming pride in Grandma’s cooking to be in their families. Furthermore, how people
too. Grandma also whispers to Teeka that she deal with and talk about food teaches them what
hopes Cousin Martha doesn’t bring that “same will be expected of them as adults when they, in
dried-out apple pie,” but she warns Teeka that if time, will bear the responsibility of sharing with
she does: “you better eat every bite of it so you the next generation what food means in their
don’t hurt Martha’s feelings.” In this exchange, families.
Grandma simultaneously confides in Teeka just
as she might bad-mouth a relative to another Works Cited
adult, while giving her granddaughter a verbal
“smackdown” to remind her that as a child, she Children’s Books
must defer to adults and stay in a child’s place. In Woodson, Jacqueline. Coming On Home Soon. Il-
a similar instance, when the green-suit-wearing lus. E. B. Lewis. New York: G. P. Putnam’s
Cousin Trevor arrives bearing flowers (that look Sons, 2004. Print.
picked, not bought) rather than an edible contri- —. Our Gracie Aunt. Illus. Jon J. Muth. New
bution to the meal, Grandma, Teeka and Paulette York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, 2002. Print.
visibly disapprove, folding their arms and turning —. Pecan Pie Baby. Illus. Sophie Blackall. New
their backs on Trevor. Despite this act of soli- York: The Penguin Group, 2010. Print.
darity in roundly rejecting Trevor’s actions, when —. Sweet, Sweet Memory. Illus. Floyd Cooper.
Teeka quips a whispered comment to Paulette New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, 2000.
that they “Can’t eat air,” Grandma tells her not Print.
to be a smartie. Teeka thinks to herself, “but you —. Visiting Day. Illus. James E. Ransome. New
know she was thinking the same exact thing.” York: New York: Scholastic, 2002. Print.
Alice Walker would likely accuse Teeka of being —. We Had a Picnic this Sunday Past. Illus. Diane
“womanish,” which she defines as “ From the black Greenseid. New York: Hyperion, 1997. Print.
folk expression of mothers to female children,
‘you acting womanish,’ [or] like a woman. Usually Secondary Sources
referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or Daniel, Carolyn. Voracious Children: Who Eats
willful behavior” (iii). These interactions illustrate Whom in Children’s Literature. New York:
the fine line children walk to find their place in Routledge, 2006. Print.
this African American family. Because food at Fisher, Leona. “Nancy Drew and the ‘F’ Word.”
this picnic delineates who are the producers and Critical Approaches to Food in Children’s
who show up only to consume without contrib- Literature. Eds. Kara Keeling and Scott Pollard.
uting, the children learn through the production New York: Routledge, 2008. LOC 1644-
and consumption of food how to be a good and 2045. E-book. Print.
well-respected family member and what food- Park, Linda Sue. Still Hot: Great Food Moments
related behaviors can turn family members into in Children’s Literature.” The Horn Book Mag-
outsiders. Hence, the picnic teaches Teeka what azine (May-June 2009): 231-240. Print.
will likely be expected of her when she becomes Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens:
an adult, while it also reminds her that she is not Womanist Prose.” San Diego, Harcourt Brace,
yet an adult. 1983. Print.
Clearly, as Woodson’s fine work demonstrates,
food plays a significant role in children’s lives
and therefore in their literature. As these young
protagonists become a part of the foodways of
their respective African-American microcultures
through the growth, preparation, distribution
and consumption of food with their elders, they
learn much about the way things are and ought
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