About the Holiday

Today we celebrate a most delicious day! It’s hard not to love pie with its flaky crust and sweet filling. Pies have been served since ancient days, originating with the Romans who, like our own English and American ancestors, discarded the crust before eating it (didn’t they know what they were missing?).

Here are a few rather surprising facts about pie

• Early pies were mostly made of meat, poultry in particular. The legs of the bird were often left to hang over the side of the dish and used as handles (is this what’s called “getting a leg up”?).
• Fruit pies probably originated in England in the 1500s.
• We have the bakers for Queen Elizabeth I to thanks for the first cherry pie.
• Pie was introduced to America by the first English settlers. It was baked in long narrow pans that the settlers called “coffyns” after pie crusts in their native country.
• During the American Revolution the term coffyn was changed to “crust” (“Those pesky Redcoats! We don’t want our words to be like theirs!”)

To celebrate today’s holiday, enjoy a slice of cherry pie, read this book, and have fun with the puzzle!

How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A.

By Marjorie Priceman

In this clever recipe/travelogue combination, Marjorie Priceman takes children on a tour of the United States as they gather the materials to make the tools needed to bake a cherry pie. Sure, it’s easy to buy the bowls, spoons, pie pan, baking sheet, pot holders, and other items required, but where do these things really come from?

With each page kids will vicariously travel across the country with the young baker as she visits Pennsylvania and Ohio for coal to make baking sheets, Mississippi for the cotton needed to sew pot holders, New Mexico for potting clay, and Washington, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Texas, and other states in her pursuit of materials. Along the way, they will learn fun facts about the states and what makes each one special.

The girl joins people playing and working at all kinds of job as she journeys by boat, plane, car, and bus in Priceman’s vibrant and engaging illustrations. Each state is depicted with its unique characteristics, and Priceman has included so many details that kids will love lingering over each page. Curious kids may want to explore more about the subjects they discover in this creative picture book.

Ages 5 – 8

Dragonfly Books, 2013 | ISBN 978-0385752930

Cherry Pie Day Activity

Mixed Up Cherry Pies Matching Game

You baked 8 cherry pies for the Cherry Pie Day Festival – 2 of each crust pattern. But they got mixed up! Can you connect the matching cherry pies? Print the Mixed Up Cherry Pies Matching Game Template and draw a line between the matching pies.