Pie

  

Pie

Sarah Weeks

October 2011

When Alice's Aunt Polly, Pie Queen of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, passes away, Alice is shocked to find out her inheritance: Lardo, Aunt Polly's beloved cat.  Even more shocking is that Aunt Polly has left her prize winning pie crust recipe to Lardo!  Suddenly, mysterious things start to happen: Polly's pie shop is broken into, and Lardo disappears.  Alice must discover what is going on and save her aunt's precious cat.

One of my favorite children's authors has done it again.  Pie is a charming story about loss and friendship, family and, naturally, pie.  With a recipe at the start of each chapter, I wanted to try my hand at pie making.  And, yes, the end made me cry!  Don't you just love a book that makes you cry?

Buy it now at Barnes & Noble.

Mudshark

Mudshark

Gary Paulsen

May 2009

Mudshark is cool.  He doesn't mean to be cool; he just is.  Lightning quick reflexes and a photographic memory have made Mudshark a legend in his own time.   His fellow students know he is the go to guy for missing items - Mudshark always knows where they are!  When the school's supply of erasers start to go missing, the principal is desperate and, naturally, turns to Mudshark for help with this school wide mystery.  With help from his friends and a strange new addition to the school library, Mudshark works diligently to put things to right again. 

Laugh out loud funny, Mudshark should be on everyone's must read list!  Slightly too hard for most of my fifth graders to read alone, I read it aloud and they love, love, loved it!  The language is perfect for a read aloud - lots of sarcasm that would be lost on most children if they didn't hear it out loud.  I have taught this book as a small group novel, but it really worked better as a read aloud.

Buy it now at Barnes & Noble.