With the Fire on High Themes

With the Fire On High follows 17-year-old Emoni through her senior year of high school. While Emoni’s friends, teachers, and even her grandmother, ’Buela, insist that senior year is Emoni’s last chance to experiment and find herself before she must face the realities of the adult world. But Emoni doesn’t fully buy that this is the case: between caring for her two-year-old daughter, Babygirl, juggling a part-time job, worrying about college applications, and keeping…

Seventeen-year-old Emoni is passionate about food and cooking. Her grandmother, ’Buela, insists that Emoni’s talent borders on actual magic, as Emoni can intuit what flavors work well together and create dishes so good that they often make people cry. Because of this, Emoni is thrilled when her high school decides to offer a culinary arts elective—finally, she believes, she’ll be able to hone her skills and prepare for a career in the restaurant industry…

As 17-year-old Emoni and her grandmother, ’Buela, navigate the trials of raising a toddler and as Emoni completes her senior year of high school, With the Fire On High suggests that being a caregiver can’t—and perhaps shouldn’t—be a person’s sole job and identity marker. While the novel goes to great lengths to show how fulfilling caregiving can be, it also doesn’t shy away from portraying how essential to a person’s mental health having a…

Emoni knows that she can’t do everything alone—she has a two-year-old daughter, Babygirl, and her grandmother ’Buela’s support has been essential as Emoni progressed through high school. Still, Emoni nevertheless struggles to accept various kinds of help from friends, family, and teachers. Part of this is because Emoni is a naturally independent person, so With the Fire On High suggests that part of Emoni’s transformation from child to adult hinges on her discovery…