Pie in the Sky [Hardcover]

Lois Ehlert (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Do pies grow on trees? Join a father and child as they watch over their backyard cherry tree--and all the colorful living things surrounding it--throughout the seasons. At the end of the summer, they harvest the cherries together and make a delicious pie for the whole family to enjoy.

This stunning new book from bestselling author Lois Ehlert features color concepts, backyard natural history, vibrant collage illustrations, and, best of all, a recipe for making cherry pie. Yum!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-This engaging story with gorgeous artwork opens, "This tree was here when we moved in. Dad says it's a pie tree…." Readers watch as it changes from bud to flower to fruit bearing. Ehlert uses a variety of mediums in her collage illustrations, including acrylic and watercolor paints, colored pencils, crayons and pastels, and several types of paper. Each spread is an amazing work of art on its own, filled with beautiful birds, lush cherries, and vividly colored scenery. Pictures are exquisitely designed and laid out. Each spread includes a piece of the ongoing story (in large, bold font) and an "I spy" section that details items for children to look for (in smaller type, using more extensive vocabulary). This book can serve independent readers at several levels, and would make a wonderful read-aloud as well. It also supports curriculum units on different types of birds, seasonal changes, and cooking. An easy-to-follow recipe is also incorporated into the story. The attractive cover has actual steam holes cut into the pie, making it a visual and tactile treat. Children will clamor for Pie in the Sky.-Corrina Austin, Locke's Public School, St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. In this well-designed picture book, an unseen child wonders about what his father calls the "pie tree." Through dialogue, the child observes the tree; in the summer it bears fruit: cherries for the birds and raccoons and also for pie (recipe included). The main text, short and well suited to reading aloud, appears throughout the book in large, white letters that show up well against the background colors. In the first half of the book, a few lines of poetry printed in small type appear on each spread, commenting on the child's observations and always ending with, "But no pie." With bright colors and playful touches such as holes on the cover art that represent steam holes in a pie's crust, the book has an inviting look that makes its natural history and cooking lessons more appealing. The vibrant collage illustrations, made with an eclectic combination of materials--from paint and handmade papers to sheet metal, wires, and tree branches--celebrate the colors and simplified shapes of birds, insects, the cherry tree, and, yes, kitchen implements. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152165843
• ISBN-13: 978-0152165840
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #453,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

LOIS EHLERT has created many picture books, including Leaf Man, Pie in the Sky, In My World, Growing Vegetable Soup, Planting a Rainbow, and the bestselling Waiting for Wings. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book A La Mode, June 6, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pie in the Sky (Hardcover)

Movement, color, unique page formatting, and a mysterious blend of words and images launch the first few pages of this imaginative, exceptionally well-illustrated book for kids. Besides an abstract picture of a tree trunk with a caterpillar and a purple, turquoise, and white/translucent dragonfly, the unnamed narrator informs us: "This tree was here when we moved in." On the next half page insert, the caterpillar is further up the tree, and the narrator says, rather mysteriously, "Dad says it's a pie tree." Turn the last half-page insert, and small red dots with tiny black eyes-ladybugs-join the caterpillar on the tree trunk. There's another engaging "hook" in large letters: "I've never seen pies growing on trees. Wouldn't that be something?"

Except for the initial inserts, every page of author/illustrator Lois Ehlert's unusually compelling nature/mystery book is increasingly elaborated but similarly formatted: There's an eye-dazzling collage, a one or two-sentence narrative that hints at the tantalizing but puzzling prospect of a "pie tree," and smaller-font prose poetry that references the collage and doubles as a vocabulary builder:

I see
green leaves,
white blossoms,
yellow pollen dust,
blue eggs
In a brown nest,
yellow honeybees,
and black stripes
On a yellow
Butterfly.
But no pie.

Ehlert's collages use a variety of materials-including origami papers, wood veneers, vellum, sheet metal, cherry tree branches-to complement her acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, oil pastel, and crayon drawn illustrations. The result is an incredibly textured group of collages that are among the best illustrations of 2004. Somehow, they're abstract and realistic, brilliantly colored, and gracefully beautiful without being precious or too delicate. The story is similarly well balanced: The paean to nature is evident ("Sweet spring is here at last" .... "But now a damp wind is blowing, and all the flower petals are falling down like rain"), but just when things threaten to become overwrought, the child's voice returns, and the mystery of the pie tree is solved: It's a cherry tree, and birds and butterflies and even a raccoon ("But, hey, raccoon, save some for us!") have already begun their "feast." Now it's the child and his or her dad's turn, and the book concludes by showing the preparations for a very cherry-filled pie. It is, after all, a pie tree.

An outstanding picture book, with an original story and excellent pedantic value as well (i.e., all that vocabulary building and object searching), this is one pie in the sky that delivers. Definitely recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cornucopia of colors, shapes, textures, December 13, 2004

By 

E. S. Will "a new leaf" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pie in the Sky (Hardcover)

[This review was first published in the "Ephrata (Pa.) Review."]

All of Ehlert's productions are cornucopias of color, shapes and textures, and "Pie in the sky" is no exception. A girl and her father watch a cherry tree evolve from winter's bare branches to summer's wealth of "rubies," (which they tuck between crusts). Assorted creatures come and go, from tiny ladybugs to a masked "thief."

Ehlert's bold collages use an assortment of materials. Corrugated cardboard, handmade papers from five countries, wood veneers, sheet metal, wires, balsa wood, wax paper, and cherry tree branches are among the items used in "Pie." Quite a recipe!

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible artwork and great story for teaching seasons, July 11, 2011

By 

CaliforniaCarolinaMom - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pie in the Sky (Hardcover)

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.