Book Review: Pie by Sarah Weeks

If you made the best pies in town, would you give them all away? That's what Alice's Aunt Polly does when she opens her pie shop in the small town of Ipswitch, Penn. And when Aunt Polly dies, she leaves her prized pie crust recipe to her cat!

Aunt Polly, also known as "the Pie Queen of Ipswitch," won the coveted Blueberry Award for pie-making a record 13 times. While her aunt was alive, Alice spent all of her free time in the shop, cracking walnuts and crumbling brown sugar. So when Aunt Polly dies, Alice finds herself in possession of her aunt's much loved but very cranky cat, Lardo--heir to the pie crust recipe. Now all of Ipswitch is trying to find Aunt Polly's recipe in order to become the next Blueberry Award winner. But without a decent piecrust, can anyone in town take home the prize? Bad pies are cooling on every windowsill. When Lardo disappears and the pie shop is ransacked, Alice and her new friend, Charlie, begin investigating the crimes.

In this gentle mystery, false trails and zaniness abound, and friendship and family rule the day. Aunt Polly lives on through her pies, and her wonderful pie recipes (included in the story). Alice puts it best when she sings, "A cat, a key, a clink, a clue,/ a chocolate pie, a friend that's true,/ A mystery that is finally through,/ And now a happy ending, too." This reader will begin by baking the delicious-sounding Lemon Chess Pie, from page 102. --Lynn Becker, host of the monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI, Book Talk. First appeared in Shelf Awareness for Readers 10/28/11, reprinted with permission.

Discover: A charming middle-grade mystery that stresses the importance of friendship, family and the goodness of pies.

Lynn Becker

www.lynnbeckerbooks.com

 

Book Launch - #2 with Robin Mellom

What a perfect day to post my interview with Robin Mellom, because it's her birthday! I had a fun time at her book launch in San Luis Obispo at the B&N. Make sure you check out the book trailer for The Classroom.

Heeeere's Robin!

I’ve had the fortune of planning two book launches in six months—one for my teen book, DITCHED, and the other for my middle grade novel, THE CLASSROOM. It definitely was easier the second time around since I knew what to expect (somewhat), but the planning that went into each one was definitely different.

For DITCHED, I knew most of my audience was going to be adults (friends, family, fellow writers) so I tailored the party to them. It was held at an indie bookstore, Diesel, in Los Angeles, and it was catered with light appetizers and cake. In my speech, I talked about my road to publication and how my writing dream finally came true. Was I nervous? Good grief, yes. But I decided it would be best to not have any notes in front of me and sort of “wing it.” I knew the few stories I wanted to tell and I just let myself tell them in a natural, conversational way. I think it was more entertaining for the audience and it was much easier for me to simply TALK than to worry about following a speech.  Plus, if I’d had notes I would’ve just dropped them since I have an issue with being a dork.

For THE CLASSROOM, there were many kids there and I made sure there were things at the party that would appeal to them. Before I spoke, I walked around and gave out wristbands that said “Be Epic” and at the front of the room I had an animated book trailer playing for them to watch. I kept my speech conversational (and notecard-less again) but this time I focused more on the writing of the book itself. I read some passages from the book but made sure they were pretty short and funny (hopefully!).

Mostly what I’ve taken away from these experiences is to keep your audience in mind and tailor the presentation to them. Then be prepared to think on your feet and change things up if you need to…at THE CLASSROOM launch I had planned on reading three passages but ended up cutting one during my presentation because I could sense my reading was getting too long. So sometimes you just have to “wing it” the whole way through! 

http://www.robinmellom.com/blog/

   

 

Bio: Robin Mellom used to teach middle schoolers and now she writes about them. (Any resemblance between fictional characters and real-life students is purely coincidental. Probably.)
She is also the author of Ditched: A Love Story. She lives with her husband and son on the Central Coast of California. Learn more at www.robinmellom.com and follow her on Twitter (@robinmellom).