Review: Pie - Sarah Weeks

Where I got it: Finished copy from publisher
Rating: 3.5 stars  

Cover Rating: 4 stars (Cute and relevant cover, definitely for middle grade.)
Genre: Middle Grade

Publication Date: October 1, 2011

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Page Count: 183 p.

Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

Aunt Polly loved to make pies and give them away. Then one day she went away, to the next life. Alice is devastated, she loved her Aunt Polly. Now though, strange things are happening. In her aunt's will she left her secret pie crust recipe to Lardo, her cat and the cat to Alice. Then when Alice brings Lardo home, somebody catnaps him. Nobody believes her that he was catnapped, they thing he just snuck away. Alice knows in her bones that it has to be the truth though. Now, with the help of her friend Charlie she has to find out who took Lardo, who ransacked her Aunt's old pie shop and why.

This was a really fast and fun read. I can see why this was picked for the Mother/Daughter Book Club. I can see a great discussion happening with this novel. It was a fun story about pie, family and a cranky old cat. I loved that each chapter started with a pie recipe and there were little handwritten notes at the bottom of each saying who's favorite it was and their birth dates. It was a nice added touch to this novel, and boy did it make me hungry for pie. Alice was an interesting character, very much her own person which was encouraged by her aunt. The relationship between Alice and her mother is strained, which is understandable considering her mother is terrible. She just was a selfish and rude person. I really didn't like her as a character and I can see why Alice preferred her Aunt Polly. This is definitely a great light mystery that you should check out if you get a chance.

First Line:
"'Thank you very much.'"

Favorite Line:
"...as she sang, Alice's heart unclenched, and something warm flowed into the spaces inside her that had been aching and empty since Aunt Polly had passed."