SCC Common Read
From the SCC Common Read team…
Hello, fellow community of readers!
The SCC Common Read team invites you to read, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson.
About the Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians, through powerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poet laureate of Kentucky.
“With Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, Crystal Wilkinson cements herself as one of the most dynamic book makers in our generation and a literary giant. Utter genius tastes like this.”—Kiese Laymon, author of the Carnegie Medal-winning Heavy
People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, are surprised that we stayed.
Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; there were her ancestors, too, stirring, measuring, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life, a legacy, and a cuisine.
An expert cook, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipes rooted deep in the past, full of flavor—delicious favorites including Corn Pudding, Chicken and Dumplings, Granny Christine’s Jam Cake, and Praisesong Biscuits, brought to vivid life through stunning photography. Together, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts honors the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia.
As the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found their stories in her apron pockets, floating inside the steam of hot mustard greens and tucked into the sweet scent of clove and cinnamon in her kitchen. Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts weaves those stories together with recipes, family photos, and a lyrical imagination to present a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for over a century.
Please visit the SCC Common Read Facebook page and attend our events and discussions. Your input to the conversation is valued and welcomed.
—Josh Jones & Erin Johnson,
Chairs for the SCC Common Read Team
Course(s) at SCC Related to this Book
- Psychology
- College Reading
- English 101
- Social Work
- Sociology 101
- First Year Experience
- Education
- Communication
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Previous Common Read Books
2024-2025 - Ash Grove by Wanda Fries- 2023-2024 - War & Homecoming: Veteran Identity and the Post-9/11 Generation by Travis L. Martin
- 2022-2023 - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- 2021-2022 - Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, & Switzler
- 2020-2021 - Educated by Tara Westover
- 2019-2020 - Celia, a Slave by Melton McLaurin
- 2018-2019 - 1984 by George Orwell
- 2017-2018 - Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance
- 2016-2017 - Picking Cotton by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton
- 2016 - The Work by Wes Moore
- 2015 - All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
