Eli Over Easy

From the acclaimed author of Small Town Pride, Phil Stamper, comes a heartfelt coming-of-age middle grade novel about grief, love, loss, and finding your way forward in the vein of Kate Allen’s The Line Tender and Jules Machias’s Both Can Be True.

The last few months have been pretty tough for Eli. He moved to New York City and left his small town in Minnesota with his extended family and everyone he knows. He hasn’t made any new friends. And his mom died unexpectedly, shattering his whole world. He misses Mom more and more every day, but Dad refuses to talk about her, leaving Eli alone in his grief. 

Then Eli finds a stash of instructional cooking videos his mom made, revealing her dream of being a celebrity chef. With the help of the cute new neighbor boy, Mathias, Eli decides to follow his mother’s recipes using her videos. If he can re-create his mom's special dishes, then maybe a part of her can stay with him forever. But what happens when the videos run out?
A Story of Grief and Healing: Lost after his mother’s sudden death, thirteen-year-old Eli feels totally alone—especially since his dad refuses to talk about her.The Magic of Food and Family: When Eli discovers his late mother’s secret cooking videos, he finds a way to bring her memory back to life, one recipe at a time.A Sweet M/M First Crush: With help from Mathias, the cute boy next door, kitchen disasters become an adventure and Eli discovers that a new city can mean new beginnings.Navigating a New City: Trading small-town Minnesota for a tiny apartment in New York City is a huge adjustment, but finding his own way in the city is Eli’s biggest challenge yet.