Pie in the Sky

Great book, very grateful for the option to use thrifted books/used books

I'm a huge fan of all Lois Ehlert books. This is another great book for teaching science and art. It can be used to teach very young readers (mine are 3 years old and 6 months) seasons, nature, habitat and even having a family tradition such as baking pie after picking fresh fruit. Once again another great way to introduce kids to science, nature, creative activities such as baking or making a colorful collage.

We enjoyed the different use of textures and mediums in the illustrations. You even get a delicious pie recipe at the end. We love Lois Ehlert!

In this story, similar to  Growing Vegetable Soup , a child narrator traces the growing cycle of a cherry tree. It opens with a kind of riddle: "Dad says it's a pie tree/ I've never seen pies growing on trees." The story then traces the tree's changes throughout the year, culminating as the family harvests cherries and transforms them into cherry pie (recipe included). The riddle is further developed in sidebar-type "I spy" type descriptions listing features of each scene, opening, "I see..." and concluding each page with a puzzled, "but no pie." These descriptions, interspersed with the narrative text, do break up the rhythmic predictability of the story, but the repeated refrain at the end of each list does help the story maintain its continuity. And these soliloquies provide a greater opportunity for young children to engage the visual interest of the story as they enjoy finding the different objects named.Ehlert's unique collage style is augmented with tactile experience in this work. The pages are of varying widths, meaning that some parts of many scenes are included in the next. This highlights the fact that the tree remains essentially the same as its appearance changes through the growing season. The front cover features piecrust cutout holes opening onto a bright red page, just as a real piecrust hides its filling.This book is best suited for a preschool audience, although older children may also enjoy it, especially if they are artistically inclined or if they might have an opportunity to try out the recipe.

My granddaughter loves this book. She checked it out of her local library as often as she could. She wanted to make a cherry pie, living 7 hours away from Grandma is hard. I knew I was going to visit her, so I had Amazon mail the book to her, when I arrived we made a pie and read the book together. I would recommend this book to anybody.

Love the book - however the used copy we got was not in good condition. Almost every page had been ripped up and taped back together again - very disappointed :(

While I know I bought this book used I thought it would be less distressed than it is especially for the price I paid.Think I need to return it.

We check this book out from the library year after year, and finally we had to have our own copy. The artwork is incredible, and my children love the story. You can use this book also as an I Spy Book, make the recipe of the pie, and teach the seasons, plants, and about birds. There is so much to do with this one book.