Plátanos Are Love

PLÁTANOS ARE LOVE is a children’s picture book by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris that follows a young girl as she uncovers many lessons: how to cook plátanos for different dishes, how the food she’s eating and making links her with her ancestors, and how passing down recipes and tradition is the ultimate expression of love and care. This book is a celebration of family, heritage, and, of course, food, and while it is specific to plátanos and Latinx culture, people of all ethnic backgrounds will be able to relate.

What I especially enjoy about this book is the bond between grandmother and granddaughter. Our grandmothers’ recipes and way of life can be forgotten with time, but this book provides a place to memorialize some of it forever. I so appreciate that the recipes are included at the end as a way to ensure the culture gets passed down and as an invitation to appreciate the culture as well. In that way and others, this book is really a love letter to elders and those who’ve come before.

The illustrations by Mariyah Rahman are also amazing. They’re so bright, vibrant, and aesthetically pleasing to look at, but they also evoke warmth, coziness, and safety— in other words, what it feels like to spend a day at grandma’s house. The pictures also have a soft, hazy quality to them, which makes them feel like a fond memory or a daydream.

Overall, PLÁTANOS ARE LOVE is a beautiful book that couldn’t be more perfectly executed. Kids everywhere will love having this on their shelves.