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Pie

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 1,878 ratings · 443 reviews

From the award-winning author of SO B. IT, a story about family, friendship, and...pie!

When Alice's Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily fat, remarkably disagreeable cat, Lardo . . . and then leaves Lardo in the care of...more

Hardcover, 183 pages

Published October 1st 2011 by Scholastic Press

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Nov 30, 2012 Natalia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think it was an awesome book!!! i loved how the settings always changed, because then it gets boring and then i don't like it. I liked it when every chapter it has a different pie recipe!!! it was a good mystery book and I enjoyed reading it. It is about a girl that has an aunt that is the best pie maker in the small town that they live in. When the aunt dies she leaves a note behind saying that she left he most famous apple pie recipe to Lardo the cat. When the note is passed o to different p...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Fran rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book. I found it hard to believe that reporters would climb through children's windows in the 1950's, but the pie descriptions prompted me to get in my car and find a pie. Overall, a really sweet read.

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Sep 28, 2012 Michelle Isenhoff rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is delightful. That’s not a word I usually use. It’s sort of an old-fashioned word that’s not really my style. A word old ladies might use to describe a chickadee singing on a sunny day or a glass of spiced tea in the winter. But it’s the word that comes to mind. Pie is simply a delight to read.

Eleven-year-old Alice lives in Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, and her Aunt Polly Portman is its pie queen. Polly never asks for payment, she simply takes pride and pleasure in pleasing others with her...more This book is delightful. That’s not a word I usually use. It’s sort of an old-fashioned word that’s not really my style. A word old ladies might use to describe a chickadee singing on a sunny day or a glass of spiced tea in the winter. But it’s the word that comes to mind. Pie is simply a delight to read.

Eleven-year-old Alice lives in Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, and her Aunt Polly Portman is its pie queen. Polly never asks for payment, she simply takes pride and pleasure in pleasing others with her pie-making accomplishments. Notice the alliteration? All the perfectly placed sounds? Yeah, many passages have purposeful placement such as this. They roll along with a melodic mix of consonants, carefully metered and particularly planned. It’s pleasing to read.

But not everything is perfect in Ipswitch. Aunt Polly dies suddenly, leaving Alice distraught and confused. For Aunt Polly left her pie crust recipe to her cat, and she left the cat to Alice. How do you leave a recipe with a cat? That’s what the whole town–the whole world, it seems–wants to know. Because Polly Portman’s pie crust is the most coveted pastry in the national pie-making community.

And now a professional pilferer has come looking to pinch it.

I loved this book. It’s a light read and perfectly pleasing for my seven-year-old to whom I read it out loud. It takes place in the 1940’s and 50’s, so some contextual phrases or events needed a bit of explaining for an audience so young, but the plot and the mystery were easy to follow. There’s a good deal of laughter and silliness. The emotion Alice deals with at her aunt’s loss and her mother’s rejection, however, is real. It’s understandable. So is the easy friendship that develops between Alice and her schoolmate, Charlie.

This is a fun read-aloud, a fun together book with a sweet adventure bonus. You see, every chapter begins with a new pie recipe. What a perfect opportunity to move from the couch to the kitchen for a little pie-making adventure of your own. My son and I chose to make the chocolate cream pie and boy was it good!

I’d strongly encourage parents and teachers to take full advantage of this one. It’s simply delightful!(less)

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May 29, 2012 Kathy Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a sweet historical fiction story about friendship and family and community. It is 1955 when middle grader Alice's beloved Aunt Polly passes away. Polly was the pie lady of Ipswich and the one who really understood Alice. After her death, Alice inherits her aunt Polly's rotund old cat named Lardo who inherited the secret recipe for Aunt Polly's pie crust. Lardo is named for the kind of shortening Aunt Polly used to make her famous pies. Everyone in town loved her pies and had a favorite....more

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Feb 20, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 3 of 5 stars

Weeks, Sarah. Pie.
Alice’s Aunt Polly is the very best pie maker in her small town, and has even won multiple Blueberry Awards from her pies, but she gives them away instead of making a huge amount of money. She is very supportive of Alice, so when she dies suddenly, Alice is crushed. The people of the town react in their own ways at the loss, many of them trying (and failing) to bake similar pies. Alice’s mother is bitter that Polly had such a loyal following and such talent, and when it turns o...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Marjorie Ingall rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: girls-9-12

I can tell this is going to blur together in my head with Joan Bauer's Close to Famous. More quirky, funny, middle-grade Southern foodie girl lit! If I can think of a third one, it's a trend story!

Josie liked Pie but didn't love it because "you're not given enough information to figure out for yourself who the bad guy is" is until All is Revealed. True dat. I wasn't bothered, though. My issue was that I found the whole thing to be too sweet and mushy. (I'm DESPERATELY trying to avoid pie metapho...more

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Dec 30, 2011 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-fiction, kids-mystery

Pie by Sarah Weeks features a main course of pie, with portions of family, friendship and mystery served up.

Polly Portman's expertise as a pie maker puts her small town of Ipswitch, PA on the map after she wins the national Bluberry Award for her pie year afrer year. Polly gives away her delicious pies, featuring her secret piecrust recipe, and receives ingredients in return, which she bakes into more pies. When Polly passes away, she leaves her piecrust recipe to Lardo, and leaves Lardo, her cr...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade-novel

Pie was a good, quick read. Alice's aunt Polly was the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, PA. She had won numerous Blueberry Medals, for the best pie of the year. She even owned her own pie store but she never charged her customers a cent. Polly had a pet cat named Lardo, that was mean to everybody except her. She never told anyone her piecrust recipe either. She unexpectedly passed away and left the recipe to Lardo. The town is now in an uproar because a lot of the town's buisness was based around Polly's...more

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Dec 02, 2011 Bethany rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, contemporary, family, humor, juvenile, mystery

Alice Anderson's aunt has died, and the entire town is mourning the loss. Aunt Polly, owner of PIE, America's premier pie shop and winner of five Blueberry Awards from the American Pie Association, was not only the engine of the entire town's economy, with buses full of tourists coming in to sample her wares, but also the sweetest, kindest lady you'd ever know. And now that she's gone, Alice has lost her favorite person in the world, her best friend, and the maker of her very favorite peach pie-...more Alice Anderson's aunt has died, and the entire town is mourning the loss. Aunt Polly, owner of PIE, America's premier pie shop and winner of five Blueberry Awards from the American Pie Association, was not only the engine of the entire town's economy, with buses full of tourists coming in to sample her wares, but also the sweetest, kindest lady you'd ever know. And now that she's gone, Alice has lost her favorite person in the world, her best friend, and the maker of her very favorite peach pie--and also, the top secret recipe to Polly's pie crust recipe. Polly's will says that she's left the recipe to her cat, Lardo, and the cat to Alice...but no one has any idea as to how the cat is supposed to get the million dollar recipe. And no one--NO ONE--else knew it.

It seems like the whole town is suddenly full of piemakers, convinced that they could be the winners of the next Blueberry and the savior of the town. And then Lardo goes missing with a thump and a clink, and Alice's mother's pie disappears, and Alice is convinced that someone is out to find Polly's crust recipe--even if they have to steal it.

I loved this book. I mean, okay, I love pie, and there are fourteen pie recipes heading up the book chapters, and I want to try all of them, and so maybe I'm a tiny bit biased. But also, the small town setting, Ipswitch, PA, population 162, is terribly charming. The characters and their pies are hilarious and adorable. The mystery and Alice's attempts at solving it, with her sidekick Charles Erdlinger, reminds me of a cozy cat mystery, without a cat detective and, you know...less annoying, because, kids. Hijinks! Sweet, well-meaning hijinks! The parents are less than believable but ultimately loveable. I still don't understand how Polly kept a roof over her head, because you can't pay a mortgage with a coconut, but I'm suspending my disbelief because I am so incredibly endeared. I'd say I want more--I certainly wouldn't turn down a chance to revisit Ipswitch--except that it's just such a perfect package as it is. Woobies. 100% woobies.(less)

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Nov 05, 2011 Richie Partington rated it 5 of 5 stars

25 April 2011 PIE by Sarah Weeks, Scholastic Press, October 2011, 192p., ISBN: 978-0-545-27011-3

"Well, you must tell me, baby
How your head feels under somethin' like that
Under your brand-new leopard-skin pill-box hat."
-- Bob Dylan

What is your favorite flavor of pie?

I don't bake pies these days. Instead, I'm frequently baking simple fruit crisps: lots of fruit filling in a pie plate covered with a topping made of half whole-wheat pastry flour; half quick oats; a generous measure of cinnamon; an...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Lolene rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book. I got it in my latest Scholastic order at school--and dug right in.

Here's the blurb from the back cover: "When Alice's aunt Polly, The Pie Queen of Ipswitch, passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily fat, remarkably disagreeable cat, Lardo...and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice. Suddenly, the whole town is wondering how you leave a recipe to a cat. Everyone wa...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ncbla

Alice's beloved aunt Polly Portman is her hometown's claim to fame. The generous natured woman has a white thumb when it comes to baking pies, and just about everyone in the town of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, has their favorite one. Everyone wonders what her baking secrets are and how to make the delicate crusts for her pies. In fact, she has won 13 Blueberry Medals for the pies. When she dies unexpectedly, she leaves her recipe to her cat Lardo and her cat to Alice. This strange turn of events cau...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Claire rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 10-to-12-year-old-readers, 7th-grade-shelf, a-7th-and-8th-grade-middle-school-t, adults-reading-ya-lit, gms-fall, grief, kid-mysteries

Polly and Ruthie are sisters. At a young, young age Polly's talent for making pie is evident- as the author notes, "even her mud pies were a cut above the others in the sandbox." Ruthie could sing like an angel. But. For whatever reason Ruthie decided to focus her energy on being jealous of Polly instead of developing her singing. She is a bitter wife, a bitter mother, and a bitter, jealous sister. Really too bad. Especially bad for Alice her daughter and her husband who bear the brunt of her ma...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Tessa Joy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Every Saturday, Alice comes to Aunt Polly’s bakery to help make pies. Unlike other bakeries, Polly gives her pies away because why charge for something she loves making. News spreads about Polly’s famous pies and tourists flood into town. Then Polly suddenly passes away. In Polly’s will she leaves her secret piecrust recipe to Lardo, her cat, and then she entrusts Lardo to Alice. When Lardo is catnapped and Polly’s shop is broken into, Alice and her friend Charlie fit the clues together to uncov...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Shelley Daugherty rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really had no idea what I was going into when I started reading this one. I knew it was a new book and I had heard of Sarah Weeks before but never read anything by her. I can tell you this story was an utter delight to read.

Alice's aunt Polly has been her best friend forever and she is a kind-hearted woman who makes pies for everyone in town, even runs a shop, but never charges a dime. But when Polly passes away, the town goes crazy trying to find her pie crust recipe. It seems the only two sl...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Camryn Rosenstein rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 4th-quarter

Anyone who enjoys humor and mystery will love PIE by Sarah Weeks. This books was very intriguing to me just by the front cover. It says with very big letters PIE. I mean who doesn't love PIE, so who wouldn't want to read a book about it. When I read the inside cover, it sounded very funny because the main characters leaves her beloved pie crust recipe to her cat, Lardo. Or so it says. This book is very heartfelt and warm. It shows how a mother and daughter reconnect with each other. In Secrets o...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Tami rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, juvenile-contemporary-realistic-f, read-aloud-recommendation

I was intrigued by the title of this book: PIE. It is the story of Alice Anderson. She is ten years old in 1955 living in the small town of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania. Alice adores her Aunt Polly, who is famous for her pie-making ability and owns a pieshop (called PIE) to which people come from all over the country to eat her pies.

Polly has found joy in both the baking and the sharing of her pies. Her sister (Alice’s mother) has tried to convince her to sell her recipes in order to become extremely...more I was intrigued by the title of this book: PIE. It is the story of Alice Anderson. She is ten years old in 1955 living in the small town of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania. Alice adores her Aunt Polly, who is famous for her pie-making ability and owns a pieshop (called PIE) to which people come from all over the country to eat her pies.

Polly has found joy in both the baking and the sharing of her pies. Her sister (Alice’s mother) has tried to convince her to sell her recipes in order to become extremely wealthy. Polly has steadfastly refused to do so; she doesn’t like charging money for what she believes is a precious gift she is meant to share with those around her. She often accepts fresh ingredients from customers in lieu of cash for her pies.

Much of the story of Polly, herself, is told in flashback through Alice’s memories. This is because when the story begins, Aunt Polly has died unexpectedly. In her will she has left her secret piecrust recipe to her bad-tempered cat, Lardo. And she has left her beloved cat Lardo to Alice. While the town is confused by the idea of leaving a recipe to a cat, Alice’s mother is furious. Alice is simply grief-stricken by the loss of the one person who she feels loved her unconditionally and accepted her for who she is.

Both Alice and her mother discover how to accept each other and recognize the joyful gifts within their own lives as they each attempt to incorporate Lardo the cat into their lives–in vastly different ways. In addition to the loss of her Aunt Polly, Alice also stumbles upon a sinister plot involving her aunt’s recipes and someone else’s determination to get them.

Alice’s mother refuses to believe–or even listen to–Alice when she expresses her suspicions, attributing it to her daughter’s “overactive imagination.” When Lardo disappears, Alice is sure he has been kidnapped. Her friend Charlie is the only person willing to help Alice solve the mystery and try to rescue Lardo.

The ending is predictable from the beginning and the relationship between Alice and her mother is too simply resolved but neither of these thing takes away from what is, at its core, a heart-warming story. It has equal doses of mystery, friendship and the journey to discover and celebrate what is really important in life. (I am not a pie enthusiast, but it also has several pie recipes mixed in which might be worth a try!)

I truly enjoy a well-written story that allows me to chuckle and walk away from it feeling uplifted. PIE is such a book. If you are looking for a gentle bedtime or classroom read, PIE is a great choice.
(less)

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Mar 21, 2012 Beverly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pie by Sarah Weeks

Summary:

Alice’s Aunt Polly is famous for her pies. She’s won the coveted Blueberry 13 years in a row. The secret lies in her world famous pie crust. Alice adores Aunt Polly, not just for her delicious peach pie, but because Aunt Polly gives Alice the love she craves from her mother. When Aunt Polly suddenly passes away, leaving her famous recipe to Lardo (her beloved cat), Alice’s world is turned upside down as the whole community goes pie-crazy in an effort to replace Aunt Pol...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Simone rated it 4 of 5 stars

Polly Portman of Ipswitch, PA is the Queen of Pie. Ever since she was little, she had loved to sit in the kitchen and help her mother make pie. Realizing her talent, her mother sat her on a little red stool and showed her how to roll out her first pie crust. Then, her talent just grew and grew, until she finally gave in to the requests she had been getting for as long as she could remember and opened her own shop: PIE. Everyone in Ipswitch loved her pies, especially the crust. Nobody knew the re...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Stacy Ford rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kennedy-2012, girl-protagonist, hist-fic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 26, 2012 Janet rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-school-humorous-fiction

A cute and humorous middle-school book with a minor mystery, some sad truths, annoying parents who finally redeem themselves, and most importantly, a valuable message: appreciate your own special talents, and don't waste your life coveting someone else's gifts.

Alice has been twice blessed - her Aunt Polly owns a pie shop in which she finds a haven of love every day, and Alice has a talent for making up songs and poems which help her to deal with both the happiest and saddest of times...when Aun...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Bluerose's Heart rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, young-reader-8-12, gender-neutral

This was a really cute little mystery! There's even a pie recipe at the beginning of each chapter, which had me wanting to make pies the whole time I read it, and I'm not really a pie person. :)

Despite the girly cover, this ended up being a pretty decent gender neutral read. I can tell it's a bit more targeted for girls, but boys can read it just fine, too.

My favorite part about the book is the lack of description concerning the main character and her family. I never imagined I'd be saying tha...more

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May 30, 2012 Brittany rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade, mystery

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 f...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Gwen the Librarian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kidlit

Alice's Aunt Polly is famous for her pies, not just in their little town, but all over America. She has won the coveted Blueberry Award (wink, wink) thirteen years in a row. When Aunt Polly dies, everyone in town mourns their beloved friend and the loss of their favorite pie, but they also begin scheming and baking, trying to figure out the secret to her success. Poor Alice is left with her distant and distracted mother and no friends - she had spent her entire childhood with her beloved Aunt Po...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Carissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: juvenile

Alice’s beloved Aunt Polly made amazing pies. She loved to bake them so much that she opened up a pie shop and gave the pies away for free! Everyone in town had a favorite flavor of Polly’s pies, and as word of them spread, people traveled from all over to taste her renowned baking. Sadly, Aunt Polly dies unexpectedly and perplexes everyone by leaving her secret pie crust recipe to her cat, Lardo. Her will also bequeaths Lardo himself (a rather grumpy cat) to her favorite niece, Alice. How do yo...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Judy Desetti rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: gr-5-8, fiction-children, gr-3-4, mystery

A fun fast read! Polly Portman makes pies. She is famous for her pies and has won many awards for them. Thirteen Blueberry Awards! After she dies the world wants her pie recipes, especially the pie crust. Alice tries to figure out who is attempting to steal Aunt Polly's pie crust recipe. Alice and Charlie get lots of clues and bumble through some far fetched scenes with wacky characters that are a bit over the top, but that is part of what makes this such a fun hilarious read.

Plenty of recipes...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Wendy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-award-possibilities

Way too arch and cute for me, and I would have felt the same as a child, I think. Alice is sort of bumbling, there's no discernable reason for this book to be set in the 1950s, I didn't get the point of the epilogue (and why is that set in 1995?), and it just isn't that hard to make pretty good pie. It's all sort of cartoony, the villains, all the townspeople making inedible pie, the logistically nonsensical Blueberry award, the idea that a girl and her mother would get rich from writing and per...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Nina Lane rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book made me happy. AND it's about pie.

Eleven-year-old Alice is very close to her Aunt Polly, the best pie maker in the town of Ipswitch. Polly loves baking pies so much that she refuses to charge money for them, preferring to give them away to make people happy. Alice is happy just sitting in the bakery, being near her Aunt Polly, and she's devastated when Polly dies unexpectedly. Her last words are "Thank you very much."

What follows is a fun mystery involving Polly's will, which leaves he...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Katie Helwig rated it 5 of 5 stars

Three heaping cups of love
Two cups of laughter
Three cups of faith
Spoonful of hope

Mix well and enjoy a happy and abundant life.

Is this the recipe for a happy life or is it Aunt Polly’s secret pie crust recipe that can make just about anything happen? This is the question Alice wants to answer. After her Aunt Polly’s sudden death, the whole town of Ipswitch seems to be after this top secret recipe so they can finally win the acclaimed Blueberry Award (Since Polly has won it for the last 13 years...more Three heaping cups of love
Two cups of laughter
Three cups of faith
Spoonful of hope

Mix well and enjoy a happy and abundant life.

Is this the recipe for a happy life or is it Aunt Polly’s secret pie crust recipe that can make just about anything happen? This is the question Alice wants to answer. After her Aunt Polly’s sudden death, the whole town of Ipswitch seems to be after this top secret recipe so they can finally win the acclaimed Blueberry Award (Since Polly has won it for the last 13 years!). Alice loved her Aunt Polly more than anyone in the world and she wonders why she seems to be the only one around that misses her, not just her pies. When Alice and the rest of the town learn that her Aunt Polly has left her secret pie crust recipe to her mean cat Lardo and she has left Lardo to Alice, strange things start happening around town. First, Lardo disappears straight out of Alice’s bedroom in the middle of the night, then Alice comes upon Polly’s pie shop wide open one day….and someone is inside! Thank goodness it is only Charlie, one of Alice’s classmates, who stumbled upon the ransacked store on his way to baseball practice. Together, Alice and Charlie agree they will find out who is behind all of the mysteries happenings in Ipswitch. Along the way, Alice learns something…she isn’t alone in missing Polly. Although Polly made the most amazingly delicious memorable pies in the world, she made them from the heart with love and care. She learns that everyone in town has a favorite pie from Aunt Polly, but what they really loved about Polly was her generosity and genuine kindness. Polly taught a town how to be kind and she left that behind, not just her pie. There is still one mystery though….how did Polly leave her recipe to a cat and who will find it to become the next great pie maker?

This book would appeal to upper elementary students in grades 4-6 and early middle school. This would be a great book to teach the concept of family and genuine kindness. Alice’s Aunt Polly lived her life in a way that was admirable for anyone. She was the type of person who was kind to everyone and everything.

I enjoyed this book very much. Alice is a character that the reader grows to care about and feel for since she has just lost her favorite Aunt. Through Alice’s story, the reader can really get a sense of how wonderful of a person Polly was and why she was so special to Alice. I think the story is very entertaining and would recommend this book.

Weeks, Sarah. Pie. New York, NY: Scholastic Press, 2011. Print.
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Feb 21, 2013 Joella www.cinjoella.com rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: juvenile, realistic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Alice has an Aunt Polly that she loves. Aunt Polly is one of those people that loves everyone right back. So it is especially hard on Alice when her Aunt Polly dies. Besides her kind heart, Aunt Polly was also known for her award-winning pie that she gave away in her pie shop. In fact, she won thirteen Blueberry medals in a row–the award for the best pie in the country. When Aunt Polly dies, she had two important points in her will. The first was that she left her secret pie crust recipe to her...more Alice has an Aunt Polly that she loves. Aunt Polly is one of those people that loves everyone right back. So it is especially hard on Alice when her Aunt Polly dies. Besides her kind heart, Aunt Polly was also known for her award-winning pie that she gave away in her pie shop. In fact, she won thirteen Blueberry medals in a row–the award for the best pie in the country. When Aunt Polly dies, she had two important points in her will. The first was that she left her secret pie crust recipe to her cat. The second was that she left her cat to Alice.

From the moment that the town buried Polly, they all went pie-crazy. Everyone wanted to make their own pie, and many wanted to try to win their own Blueberry award. Alice has to figure out how to be happy again, how to be the person Aunt Polly was sure Alice would turn out to be, and figure out who is trying to steal the secret pie recipe and possibly harm her and her cat.

This is a fun story with a plethora of great pie recipes marking the beginning of each chapter. Alice is a great character. She has just the right amount of grief, gumption, and logic to figure out what is going on. Also the supporting characters are well-written. Charlie, the friend who helps Alice figure out what is going on, is especially endearing. Even though he has as many blunders as not, he is the perfect friend to help Alice discover the heart of the mystery. And Alice’s parents aren’t just the non-existent type that is so prevalent in children’s literature. Even though Alice doesn’t see eye to eye with them, the reasons behind who they are and what they do is well thought out.

***Spoiler***
The only thing that I don’t love about the book comes in the epilogue. I liked the relationship between Charlie and Alice so much that I wished they really would get together. And even though they didn’t, I was glad that they were still friends all those years later. I just didn’t like the feeling of Alice being alone at the end. Yes, I know that she and Charlie’s little girl had a special bond. But it felt like Alice was more alone than Aunt Polly had been. And if Alice was as loving and caring as she seemed, it felt just a touch off that she was that alone at the end.(less)

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About Sarah Weeks

Sarah Weeks has been writing children’s books and songs for the past twenty years. She is a graduate of Hampshire College and NYU and recently became an adjunct faculty member in the prestigious Writing Program at the New School University, in New York City.

Her first YA novel, So B. It, which appeared on the LA Times bestseller list was chosen as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and received the...more

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