How to Bake an American Pie
Grade 3-5–Wilson serves up a celebration of our country, its founders, and the immigrants who built it with this rhyming recipe. With frequent references to America the Beautiful, the tribute includes tangible geographic ingredients such as fruited plains, fields/of amber grains, and purple mountain majesties. Less-tangible fixings include meekness, might, courage, liberty, justice, freedom, dreams, forgiveness, and customs/from faraway lands. As the bakers add these essentials, the larger-than-life pie rises in its cast-iron melting pot. While the rhymes are clever, they are also saccharine: The secret ingredients/cannot be bought,/so borrow/from Heaven above./The key to it all/is to pour in the pot/plenty of/faith, hope, and love. Colón's signature cross-hatched ink-and-watercolor illustrations, both sunny and whimsical, are the key ingredient in this otherwise syrupy dish. An amiable cat and dog sporting chefs' hats first preheat the world–a giant globe over a campfire–and then consult a cookbook, roasting wieners while they wait. A huge rolling pin flattens fields where giant apples, pears, and berries dwarf two grazing cows. Immigrants in period costume, suitcases and American flags in hand, free fall into a safety net guarded by the furry bakers. Observant readers will spy the strategically placed American symbols including the bald eagle, Statue of Liberty, White House, Mount Rushmore, and Columbus's ships. Kelly DiPucchio'sLiberty's Journey(Hyperion, 2004), which features striking art by Richard Egielski, covers similar ground with less sentimentality. Use this title to introduce immigration units.–Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public SchoolsCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.