Thursday, June 30, 2016

An Apple Pie For Dinner

An Apple Pie for Dinner. Susan VanHecke. Illustrated by Carol Baicker-McKee. 2009. 32 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: One day, old Granny Smith wanted an apple pie for dinner. She looked around her cozy kitchen. She had flour and butter. She had sugar and spices. But there was one thing she didn't have.

Premise/plot: Granny Smith wants to make an apple pie but has no apples. What will she do? She'll take a good look at what she does have--plums, in this case, and make the most of it. She herself has no use for plums--at least not that day--but someone, somewhere will. So Granny Smith sets off to go trading...

My thoughts: I really LOVE this one. It's based on an English folktale. I'm not sure how familiar that original folk tale is today, but, it felt vaguely almost familiar to me. It was a relief to learn that it was inspired by a folk tale. I liked Granny Smith very much. I liked how she set about to do things and actually got things done. I liked all the people she met along the way. I liked how she included them in the ending and asked them to share the pie! The illustrations are very unique and handcrafted.

Text: 4 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 8 out of 10

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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