Very nice book celebrating America. Positive inclusion of USA, Americans, and God.

Using snippets of text from famous patriotic songs such as America the Beautiful, with its "purple mountains majesty," and The Star Spangled Banner, with its "dawn's early light," as well as celebrated ideas and concepts from American culture and history - American pie, the melting pot, etc. - author Karma Wilson presents a poetic imagining of what it takes to create a country like the USA. Her rhyming "recipe" is paired with Raúl Colón's pen and watercolor illustrations, which depict a dog and cat baking the eponymous American Pie...

Although I have enjoyed some of Karma Wilson's other books, and generally love Raúl Colón's artwork, somehow How to Bake and American Pie just didn't work for me. I found that the text didn't really scan very well, which is something I particularly look for in rhyming texts. The illustrations, although beautifully done, felt like nothing so much as an oddly random mix of famous icons, all "melting" into one another, which may have been appropriate, given the theme of book, but struck me as oddly unappealing, visually speaking. I would imagine that this one might have appeal for those looking for patriotic picture-books for the 4th of July, but I'd recommend a beautifully-illustrated picture-book featuring the actual songs quoted by Wilson instead. Both Chris Gall and Wendell Minor have produced lovely picture-book versions of America the Beautiful that I would recommend, and the D'Aulaires created a gorgeous version of The Star Spangled Banner that is definitely worth checking out! ( )

37 months - O has asked me to read this a few times since bringing it home from the library. I think she enjoys the illustrations and she likes the rhyme. I don't think kids will understand the meaning of the text though. She has caught a couple of things... purple mountain majesty she knows is the Rocky Mountains we can see west of Denver, she commented on 50 stars being "ALOT" tonight and I explained the meaning. She recognized the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore (as we were there last week). Certainly a more appealing book for adult americans vs young children, although even I appreciated it being a Canadian. :) ( )

Dog and cat chefs create an "American pie," adding the ingredients of purple mountains, courage, etc. Written in verse and reflective of "America the Beautiful." ( )

Summary of Book:
This beautiful poem takes you across the country to learn about the founding principles of our nation. It highlights and features all of the wonderful things and ideas that make our nation so great. There are many wonderful ingredients that go into baking our American pie.

Personal Reaction:
I love the way this book flows. It is beautifully written and the illustrations that accompany it are even more beautiful. It makes you stop and think about the really simple, important things that our great nation was founded upon. In this busy world, we often lose sight of those things.

Extension Ideas:
1. Have the students pick one thing that symbolizes America (i.e. statue of liberty). Have the students journal why they picked that particular symbol and share with the class.
2. Have the students write their own poem about America.
3. Have students write their own recipe for baking an American pie.