Bake You A Pie [With CD]

Bake You a Pie [With CD]

From School Library JournalPreSchool-Grade 2-In this picture book/song combo, various adults attempt to mollify hungry, crying youngsters with the promise of pie. There is no story, just an accumulation of 11 verses, each consisting of a rhyming quatrain and a repeated refrain. Presented on individual spreads, each one features a particular child (or animal, or object) matched with an appropriate dessert. For example, Hank, a sweet little cowboy, is offered a cactus meringue pie; Luciano, a tenor, is promised an eggplant parmesan concoction; and Pearl, a rock star, is tempted with a tangerine tambourine treat. On the audio CD, each verse is presented in a musical style that matches its content: Hank's is performed as country, Luciano's as opera, and Pearl's as rock 'n' roll. These renditions are not always successful, and the Cajun and techno interpretations, in particular, fall flat. The second cut provides instrumental reprises of the song and a third is a vocal solo. Although the acrylic and colored-pencil illustrations are colorful and exciting, they do not relieve the tedium of the text and the music.-Linda Staskus, Parma Regional Library, OHCopyright