An Apple Pie for Dinner

Susan VanHecke retells AN APPLE PIE FOR DINNER, and enjoys Carol Baicker-McKee's drawings in a recommendation for ages 5-8. Granny Smith wants to bake an apple pie, but she doesn't have any apples. Her desire to swap plums for apples gains her other things - including the one thing she REALLY wanted when her pie idea ripened. A fun story evolves.

I absolutely love this book! The pictures are inspiring and my students really loved the story. As an accompaniment to the story, I made pie crust sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, cut into little shape,s and gave each student three pieces. They were thrilled!

Granny Smith was hankering for a good old apple pie for dinner. When she glanced about her kitchen, she found most of the ingredients that she would need, except for the most important one. It really isn't easy to make an apple pie without apples. Granny put on her thinking cap and decided a little trading might be in order. She did have a tree just bursting with plums and someone might just want some of those in exchange for some apples. She "filled a big basket with plums from her tree. Then she put on her bonnet. She pulled on her shawl. And she set off." Someone just had to have apples for that pie. There were all kinds of things to be found, but no apples. The plums were traded for a "bag of fluffy feathers," the feathers were traded for a lovely bouquet of flowers, the flowers were traded for a gold coin (to a prince no less!) and the gold coin was traded for a puppy. The gold coin was given to a mother who needed to feed her children, but a puppy certainly wouldn't make a good apple pie. "I'm looking for apples . . . do you know where I might find some?" No, no, no. The prospects for finding some apples were looking very dim, but Granny kept on smiling and went on her way. Was she ever going to find some apples for that mmmmm spicy little pie she wanted? This is a charming little story that looks and reads like a folktale and, according to the author, is based on an English one called "The Apple Dumpling." The recipe for this book was so perfectly rendered, it has that quaint whimsical feel of an old tale. The mixed-media artwork is very "green" and was made from many interesting items, including things found in the trash and at rummage sales. In the back of the book is a recipe for an apple pie that children can help with. If you are a Yankee trader and enjoy a good folktale now and then, pull up a chair, grab a fork and get ready to enjoy some apple pie!

This is a delightful retelling of an English folktale. Granny Smith needs apples to make a pie for dinner, but doesn't have any apples. So she sets out on a journey to find some apples--which she does by the end of the tale--but she also finds so much more. Vanhecke's text is wonderful and she imparts an important lesson about the power of sharing without ever once seeming didactic or preachy. The mixed media illustrations by Baicker-McKee illustrations are whimsical and fit perfectly with the story to create a solid reading/visual experience that both children and adults will thoroughly enjoy. If you're looking for a classically charming tale then this is the one for you. And as a bonus, there's a recipe for apple pie at the end of the book that looks delicious!