Sunshine State Book Review: PIE

The second book in my Sunshine State Book Review is the one I was most excited for: PIE by Sarah Weeks. I just LOVE pie!  Mmmm... pie!  I even had a pie bar at my wedding since I don't really like cake all that much.  Look at all the deliciousness!!!

See, I even had Mmm... pie written on my ice cream spoons ;o)

Back to the book!

Summary from Scholastic:
While Alice's Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe.  Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinary fat, remarkably disagreeable cat, Lardo... and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice.

Suddenly, the whole town is wondering how you leave a recipe to a cat.  Everyone want to be the next big pie-contest winner, and it's making them pie-crazy.  It's up to Alice and her friend Charlie to put the pieces together and discover the not-so-secret recipe for happiness: Friendship.  Family.  And the pleasure of doing something for the right reason.

This was a very cute story set in 1955 about a little girl trying to find her place in her family now that the only person who really loved her for her is gone.  It's a great story that shows how all your "special little quirks" that make you you, isn't something to be embarrassed or ashamed of, but embrace it and see what amazing things can happen!  There is also a little mystery, Nancy Drew style, thrown in there with a GREAT twist at the end!  You might have to explain a few things since it is set in the 1950's but not much.  It definitely won't deter their reading or understanding if they read this on their own.

There are TONS of great characters in this story, all with their own quirks.  I think this would be a perfect book to discuss character traits and why you think characters are making the decisions they are making (motive).  There are also some good sections early on in the book that lend itself to foreshadowing.  My friend Joanne over at Head Over Heels for Teaching has this fabulous product to promote higher level character analysis!  The best part is you can leave it up all year long and add to it as you read more books.  It's something I am definitely implementing next year!  Click on the image if you would like more info or a set for your own classroom!

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Historical Fiction (not a lot of history though)/Mystery
Lexile: 930
Grade Interest Level: Grade 3-7
Pages: 192
Skill: Character Traits, Foreshadowing
Food: Pie (there are all sorts of recipes in the book!)

If you would like a copy of the award for reading this book click here to grab your free copy!  There are three different versions: SRC test, AR test and just reading the book.

Next up for review is Athlete vs. Mathlete by W.C. Mack!