Summer of a Thousand Pies

Summary

This book fits perfectly with Midsummer Mayhem, and Love, Sugar, Magic, in what I like to call the middle-grade baking book sub-genre. It’s one of my favorite sub-genres because I love to bake.

In this book Cady Bennett who has grown up homeless in San Diego with her dad finds herself living with aunts she didn’t even know she had in a quaint mountain town.  She’s not used to the stability at first but slowly learns to love the small town.

After all, she’s staying in her mother’s old room, learning to bake like she always wanted, one of her aunts, Shell owns a pie shop and is willing to teach Cady how to make pies. She’s also making new friends around the town and exploring the countryside.

She starts to feel like she finally has a place she can but when she learns her aunt’s pie shop is failing, and she might lose everything she now thought of as home, she’s ready to try anything to save it. With help from her friends and a little creativity, she just might have a shot at getting her stubborn aunt to accept the help she needs.

A very sweet middle grade with found family, friendship, and lots of wonderful recipes.

Review

Cady learns a lot about herself throughout the story, but the emotional transformation between her and her aunts is really the backbone of the story. One thing that I really like that the author does is she makes the small town they are living in feel homey, especially the house Cady is living in and the Shell’s Pie’s themselves, you want to visit them both while reading the story.

The author also delicately handles topics such as drug use, homelessness, and immigration.

The book also delicately handles the topic of Cady’s father who has lost custody, and Cady’s feelings surrounding him and how they change throughout the book.

Ultimately though her aunts make a great found family and this is why I’m glad to share this as my first review of Pride month.

Five Favorite Things

1. Cady’s Pie Combos
2. Cady and her aunts watching The Great British Baking Show
3. Cady’s First Pie
4. Cady and Jay Exploring
5. The Fundraiser

I’d have to give this book 5 stars because I love the genre. It will probably be my favorite for May unless Margaret Peterson Haddix’s new book edges it out.

Amazon: Summer of 1000 Pies