NOVEMBER 2012: Pie by Sarah Weeks - Great for older elementary readers with a sweet tooth and an eye for crime solving.

"Polly Portman was a natural born pie maker. When she was little, even her mud pies were a cut above what anyone else in the sandbox was doing." pg. 1 Pie

Alice Anderson loves spending her Saturdays at her Aunt Polly's pie shop in Ipswitch, Pennsylvania; although she didn't have a talent for making pies like her aunt, she did help get the ingredients ready. Together the two would make pies and talk all day long, until one night when Aunt Polly suddenly passed away in her sleep leaving Alice and the entire town heart broken. What would Alice do without her Aunt Polly to talk to and what would the citizens of Ispwitch do without Polly Portman's pies? It was well known that Polly had a secret recipe for her crust, a recipe so good that her pies won a national pie award 13 years running.  A recipe so secret that even Alice didn't know it, a recipe so well hidden that the burglar who broke into the pie shop after Polly died couldn't find it. But when Alice finds out that Aunt Polly left her secret recipe to Lardo, her grumpy cat and Lardo to Alice - things start to get pretty fishy. Now Alice must figure out who cat-napped Lardo and who pie-napped her mother's attempt at a chocolate cream pie.

Each of the fourteen chapters starts with a pie recipe, everything from fruit and custard pies to a green tomato pie, a peanut butter raspberry cream pie and even a low-fat buttermilk pie. Never backed a pie before? Want to start with something a little simpler? Did you know that we have cookbooks for kids in the Children's Department? Ask one of your friendly librarians to help you find one. Or you can close your eyes and image you can take a big bite out of this delicious pie from Polly's recipe file - although it may not look so pretty, if you like Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches, you will love this Peanut Butter Raspberry Cream Pie!