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.