Pie

My students love Sarah Weeks' novels - I can't wait to share her book, Pie, with them. This endearing novel is about doing the right thing, building community, helping others,and leaving your mark in this world. Alice's Aunt Polly was known for baking her delicious pies for others in the town without charging them a dime. When Aunt Polly dies suddenly, Alice's world is torn apart - not only because she misses her Aunt so much, but because the whole town is acting strange and some people want to fill her Aunt Polly's shoes and win the prestigious Blueberry Award. Aunt Polly had won the last 13 annual Blueberry Awards for her tasty pies. Even Alice's mother is bitter about Aunt Polly's giving ways and is determined to become an even better pie baker than her sister. When Aunt Polly's will is read, the town discovers that the secret pie crust recipe has been willed to Lardo (Aunt Polly's fat white cat) and Lardo has been willed to Alice. It is up to Alice and her cute classmate, Charlie, to find out who has broken into Aunt Polly's bake shop, stolen and drugged Lardo, and will stop at nothing to obtain the secret recipe. Alice learns something about herself in solving this mystery. I love that Weeks included a pie recipe at the beginning of each chapter - yum! Other wonderful reads by Weeks include As Simple as It Seems, Jumping the Scratch, Regular Guy, and So B. It.

As Simple as It Seems

So B. It by Sarah Weeks is a book that many of my students recommend to each other. It is a book that they want to discuss. I think that will be the case with As Simple as It Seems, Weeks’ most recent novel. Eleven-year-old Verbena notices a change in herself that she doesn’t like. Everything about her doting mother annoys her and she cannot hide the rage that is building inside. She was always told that she was small for her age and had to wear glasses because she was born prematurely. She accidentally finds out the horrible truth behind her birth which only confirms everything that she has been feeling. A boy named Pooch from the city moves into the abandoned house nearby for the summer. The family that used to live in that house moved away a long time ago after their daughter, Tracey, drowned in the lake. When Pooch sees Verbena beside the lake he thinks she is the ghost of Tracey. Wanting to be anybody but herself, Verbena happily plays along. Before long the two find themselves in a life or death situation. Sarah Weeks has a gift for making her characters real to her readers. Another great book by Sarah Weeks is Jumping the Scratch.