By Carlos Vélez Aguilera

On Sale: Apr 22, 2025
Page Count: 32 pages
Publisher: WorthyKids
ISBN-13: 9781546005391

$18.99

$24.99 CAD

Format

Hardcover

Format:

Hardcover $18.99 $24.99 CAD

Buy from Other Retailers:

Celebrate the power of food and create delicious, lasting memories with this poetic and playful exploration of the joy of waiting for, and finally sharing, fried plantains.

Mama steers the cart toward the produce section of the grocery store and picks up a bunch of green plantains. Thus begins a week of anxious anticipation as a young girl waits for mustard yellows to seep onto the unripe green peels. Creep. Creep. Seep. Green begins to turn to yellow. Creep. Creep. Seep. Black streaks appear. And finally, on Sunday, the frying pan sizzles and hisses, as Mama serves up the warm, sugary slices the young girl has waited for so long.

Much like there is sweet treasure hidden beneath the skin of a plantain, this beautifully written and evocative story reaches far beyond the act of preparing a favorite food. Ripening Time celebrates the way food and family entwine to connect us across generations—and serves as a touching reminder that some of the sweetest rewards in life are worth the wait.

Genre:

"Delectable prose and jewel-toned illustrations come together as a young narrator counts down until a bunch of plantains are ripe enough for eating....The suspense yields a satisfying ending (“One week behind me./ One plate before me.”), as Aguilera uses rich, saturated colors to create a domestic world filled with flowers and produce, amplifying the sensory-rich storytelling."
Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Gopo’s poetic talent meets kids and families in a sweet spot that is not heavy-handed, but wonderfully inspiring."
Southern Bookseller Review

Patrice Gopo

About the Author

Patrice Gopo is the child of Jamaican immigrants and was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She is an award-winning essayist and the author of All the Colors We Will See: Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way (a Fall 2018 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection). Her ties to Jamaica and other parts of the world sparked her early desire to travel to the cities and countries she traced on a globe. In time, as she began writing about her experiences, Patrice became interested in how places contribute to the people we become. Ultimately, she hopes her stories celebrate the beauty of living a multifaceted life. Patrice lives with her family in North Carolina—a place she considers another home. All the Places We Call Home is her first picture book.

Winner of the SCBWI 2020 Summer Showcase Award, artist Jenin Mohammed moved into children’s illustration after working to gain entry into storyboarding for television. Just as her dream studio job appeared on the horizon, Jenin realized that her true love for story lay in children’s illustration. Her work uses dynamic shapes and perspective with a layering technique to create a tissue-paper-collage-meets-painterly look. Born and raised in Florida, Jenin grew up in an African American/Caribbean household, providing a personal connection to Patrice’s story.

Learn more about this author

×

Contributors

Formats and Prices

Price