Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly-Pie [Library Binding]

Judy Sierra (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Thelonius Monster once swallowed a fly, and decided that flies would taste grand in a pie. That silly guy!

Judy Sierra’s funny read-aloud romp presents a monster that children will love as he makes a goo-filled crust, lures hundreds and thousands of succulent flies into it, and invites his “disgusting-ist” friends and relations to a gala fly-pie party. “How it glistens! And listen—it hums!” shout the ravenous monsters. But just as his guests are about to dig in—the pie flies off. “Bye, bye, fly pie.”

Judy Sierra’s story in rhyme begs to be read aloud during Halloween season or any season, and Edward Koren’s signature hairy monsters capture all the humor of this deliciously gross tale.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3 An incomparable rhymester has teamed up with a master cartoonist to conjure up some haute cuisine on the fly. The tune for I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is likely to echo in children's minds as they listen to the words of Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie, in which an earnest monster chef intends to swallow hundreds and thousands of succulent flies. After obtaining some helpful hints from a spider via e-mail, Thelonius creates a sticky crust, gathers flies, attaches them to the crust, and invites eleventeen ravenous monsters for dessert. The resulting creation is a thing of beauty: the flies hum, they sparkle, they play orchestral music. And, alas, they fly away. Thelonius has forgotten to bake the pie, and off it goes. The words are carefully chosen: Up, up the staircase/it whirred and it whined/with all of the monsters galumphing behind./It whizzed out the window./It whooshed to the sky./Bye-bye, fly pie! Koren's illustrations, done in black, white, and green, are perfectly fused with the story. Children will love the illustrated jokes, such as pie flies singing and playing instruments while monsters dance around them, holding a pie cutter. The scruffy style gives all the characters a cheerful, easygoing beatnik look that is enormously appealing, and the layout is perfectly suited to the text and illustrations. A lovable and entertaining work of art. Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. In this "revolting rhyme" (no connection to Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, 1982), Sierra provides New Yorker cartoonist Koren with a vehicle for his signature snaggletoothed creatures. Thelonius Monster, who resembles a Muppet from the wrong side of the tracks, painstakingly prepares a pie for a dinner party: "He lured hundreds and thousands of succulent flies, and their footsies all stuck to his fly-catching pie. Perhaps they'll die." They don't; before anyone can tuck into the concoction, the main ingredients launch a dramatic airborne escape. Koren's chaotically crosshatched drawings can be difficult to parse, and the black, white, and celery-green color scheme may not attract children accustomed to more lavish styles of picture-book illustration. However, with lines that rhyme sewer with manure, a certain subset of kids is sure to be well entertained. Slot this into storytimes featuring "I Know an Old Lady" spoofs, but don't be misled by the occasional echoes of the folk song; this is meant to be chanted rather than sung, using the varied typefaces to guide inflection. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Library Binding: 40 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (May 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375932186
• ISBN-13: 978-0375932182
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,763,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in a very creative, book-loving family. My father was a photographer, and my mother was a librarian. They read to me constantly, especially poetry. When I was seven, they built me a puppet theater and I gave my first performance, "The Three Wishes." In college I studied literature, and afterwards I became a children's librarian. A few years later, I set out on my own as a puppeteer, quickly joining forces with another puppet artist, who became my husband. We studied traditional puppetry in Indonesia, and traveled all over the U.S. as teachers and artists-in-residence. About twenty years ago, I combined what I had learned as an avid reader and writer, as a librarian and children's entertainer, and began writing books for children. All of my books are meant to be read aloud and dramatized. To learn more about how each of my books came to be, please visit my web site: http://www.judysierra.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, September 1, 2006

By 

fluff - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly-Pie (Hardcover)

I love reading this book to my kids, ages 6 and 8. I enjoy the story as much as they do. It is a simple story, easy and very enjoyable to read. I think the words are clever and have a nice flow to them, and the story is really cute.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Earth below us, drifting falling, May 17, 2006

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly-Pie (Hardcover)

The cartoonists of the New Yorker have never been able to resist the siren song of the world of children's book illustration. Some of them, particularly Harry Bliss, have made the transition without so much as a hiccup. And of course it goes the other way around too. William Steig for years drew odd and bizarre little pieces for the mag when he wasn't penning children's classics. Edward Koren is another matter altogether. I've always loved his furry, hairy, wide-eyed people/monsters/birds/etc. Till now only book to his name was his own, "Very Hairy Harry". Now he's been paired with Judy Sierra of, "Wild About Books" fame. The result is, "Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie" with black and white pen and inks by Koren. It's not the most original of books and the rhymes leave something to be desired, but it remains amusing enough to satisfy those parents who already like the illustrator or the author and want something droll for the nursery.

Written in rhyme the story tells the tale of Thelonius Monster (no relation to Mr. Monk) who realizes one day that flies are delicious. So delicious, in fact, that he decides to bake hundreds and thousands of them into a pie. To do so Thelonius makes a crust with an extra-sticky filling, then lures his flies from every conceivable (slash disgusting) place to stick to his pie. That done, the guest-monsters arrive and look forward to a delicious repast. All seems to be going when until all of a sudden the pie lifts off of the ground thanks to the flapping wings of the flies. It takes off, the crust falls to the ground, and the flies are free. You might think that old Thelonius would be disheartened by this development, but his guests love the taste of the now fallen crust and tell him, "You're a fabulous cook! You're a wonderful guy!". Happy ending for all.

What Sierra has done here is provide us with an alternative to the old I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie story. Sierra's chorus even offers the little after-rhymes that mimic the "perhaps she'll die" portion of the original song. Don't try to sing this book to the "Old Lady" tunes, though. Sierra's lines scan but sometimes shoot off into entirely different directions, making them impossible to sing. I give extra points to Sierra for the use of the word, "galumphing", by the way, since it's such an amusing little word. The story is fine too. It's not extraordinary. It won't grab you by the collar and wake you up. It's just nice. People who like it will like it and people who are bored with it will be bored.

Koren does some lovely things with this story. Eschewing any color except for the green of the flies' wings, the book is primarily drawn in black ink. The flies, for their part, have small human faces, which makes their eventual escape that much more pleasant. There is a rather manure-laden sequence in which Thelonius locates four different animals, each of whom has recently... um... produced some natural fertilizer (if you know what I mean). The flies congregate and the monster is able to capture them. Actually, it took me four or five readings of the book before I realized what this two-page spread was really about. Undoubtedly some parents will have a greater dislike of such a sequence in a picture book than others. Koren has certainly made Sierra's words make sense, but the amount of manure verges on the excessive. I was still fond of the book, though. I liked the signs held up at the end by the other monsters (and some flies) in Thelonius's honor. The sign, "Marry Me, Thelonius" was one of my favorites.

"Sky-High Fly Pie" is by no means meant to be confused with, "The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake", though you could be forgiven for doing so. It is a fine book and will garner some fans. Nice all around.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grossly adorable monster chef., February 17, 2010

By 

JABS (Eau Claire, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly-Pie (Hardcover)

Not for the those with a weak stomach. :-) but my two-year-old boy loves it! Really cute and 'gross'