Enemy Pie By Derek Munson

Title:  Enemy Pie

Author:  Derek Munson

Illustrator: Tara Calahan

APA Bibliographic Information:
 Ludwig, T. (2013). The Invisible Boy. NY: Random House Children's Books.
Genre: Fiction
Lexile: AD550L

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Summary: 

This book is about a boy who believes he will have a perfect summer up until a new boy comes along by the name of Jeremy Ross and moves right next to his current best friend. He does not like Jeremy because not only does Jeremy laugh at him but he also never invites him to any of his trampoline parties. Jeremy becomes his one and only enemy.  His dad tells him that he has a recipe called enemy pie that will help him get rid of his enemy. The ingredients are top secret but his dad assures him that it is the fastest way to get rid of any enemy.  His dad does mention that in order to the pie to work he will have to spend a whole day with Jeremy and will have to be nice to him. As his dad makes the pie, he realizes that the pie looks and smells good but his father tells him it has to in order for the enemy to eat it.  He then goes on to spend an entire day with Jeremy and to his surprise he actually has fun.  They both go back to his house where the enemy pie awaits for Jeremy. They have dinner and when it's time for dessert, he changes his mind.  He no longer wants Jeremy to eat the enemy pie because he had such a good time with him. His dad proceeds to eat the pie and he gets confused. Wasn't the pie supposed to be awful? It actually turns out that the pie was delicious and Jeremy was no longer his enemy. 

Who Would Enjoy this book? (Targeted Audience) :

This book would be perfect for anyone in Kindergarten to first grade depending on their Lexile level. They would enjoy the story because its something that many might be able to relate to. When you're young you sometimes dislike others because they laugh at you and aren't very nice but this book shows that you can overcome that with kindness. Students who love books about food and about friends would really enjoy this book. It is targeted for a younger audience but it really is a perfect book for a read out loud. It a book targeted to teachers who want to teach students to be nice to those who are maybe not so nice. 

Evaluation Of Text: 

I would give this book a four out of five starts. The story is very engaging and it is so creative.  The illustrations were a lot of fun and really helped guide the story. I do wish that there had been more dialogue between the main character and Jeremy. I also wish that the message had been more brought up and clear for students to understand the purpose of the book.  They do mention that the main character has a best friend at the start of the book but they never bring him up again and I thought that was a little misleading. Other than that I really liked all the descriptive words in the text because you could really visualize what was happening without even looking at the pictures. 

Reader Response Activity: 

A fun activity would be to make worksheets in the form of a pie that they could possibly color if they had time and then I would give the students room to write underneath or on the actual pie itself.   I would then ask them to write what kind of ingredients they would use to make the pie.  And why making it a delicious pie was a better idea than making something gross.  If they disagree with this, they can also decide to make it a real enemy pie and write their reasoning behind this. If you have the fund it would also be great for the students to talk about their favorite pie while they eat some.