Ugly Pie

Wheeler, L. (2010). Ugly pie. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
ISBN-10: 0152167544
ISBN-13: 9780152167547

Ugly Pie is a story about a friendly bear that decides he wants to eat some; you guessed it, Ugly Pie! He leaves his house singing a fun song about how much he wants Ugly Pie. He was hoping that one of his neighbors would have something delicious baking in their oven and when he learns that no one is baking Ugly Pie he collects the ingredients he needs to bake the pie himself.

This book is a great choice for three to five year old children for a number of reasons. First of all – the main character is lovable and relatable. Everyone has had a craving for a tasty treat at some point in his or her life and children at this age are old enough to understand bear’s desire for some Ugly Pie. Secondly, not only are the illustrations great the fun-tune bear starts to sing is appealing to children.

The illustrations in Ugly Pie are by Heather Soloman. She used a combination of watercolour and acrylic paint to create the images that are friendly in nature. They are bright and colourful but not in an offensive in your face way. They evoke a sort of playful mood that when combined with the positioning of the text on the page (as well as the variation in font size) that makes you cheerful. I think that children will enjoy these images not only for the reasons that I listed above but also because bear is presented in such a lovable way with his shirt buttons bursting and his big bear belly popping out. I am drawn to the images for many of the reasons listed above and also because I like how bear isn’t perfect and the front cover shows him looking a little clumsy and a bit messy which is something that everyone can relate to.

There are a number of ways to provoke interest for this story before it is presented. One tactic I would use is to put an emphasis on baking, maybe add some wooden spoons and a pie plate to the kitchen play area. Another way would be to put pictures of pies about the classroom or perhaps a picture of a bear, or apples, or raisins in different areas. Even more blatant would be to just have a large picture of bear on one of the walls and just leave it for the children to notice there was a new friend plastered on the wall. You could leave props from the story in the play areas – I already mentioned the pie plate and baking implements, you could also set a yellow bowl, or perhaps a picture of a black crow or one of bears friends about the classroom as well.

1) The first way I would present Ugly Pie to a group of 3-5 year olds would be to use a magnet board painted with a pathway and a few trees and a few other creatures from the story. Using laminated pictures from the book you would start with bear walking down the path and by the time he gets to the other end of the sheet he has met the different characters and collected all the ingredients he needs to bake his Ugly Pie.
2) The second way I would present Ugly Pie to children would be to have a pie plate and a yellow mixing bowl with me while telling the story and every time bear collected an ingredient add it to the bowl and stir it until the end of the story when it is time to make the pie, put all the ingredients in the pie plate et voila! We have created Ugly Pie along with bear.
3) Another interesting way to present/engage the children with the story would be to have a shaker (filled with rice or a similar substance) and put miniature pictures of all the ingredients bear needs inside so that every time bear collects an ingredient the children can move the shaker about until they see the item just collected in the book.
4) I thought it would be fun to have a stuffy with an outfit just like bear’s so that when telling the story you would have a puppet the children can follow while he goes about his journey collecting felt pieces that you could put into something proportioned to the bear i.e. a cupcake liner or a small ramekin that could be a pie plate for bear to add his delicious ingredients into.
5) Story blocks would also be a great way to present this story and you could potentially put all the ingredients and picture of all the friends bear encounters during his quest for Ugly Pie and as bear wanders along, singing his song, add a block every time he speaks to someone (with their picture on it) and add a block to the row when he collects all the ingredients etc. I would have the blocks stored in a red gingham bag of sorts and then place the blocks back on top of the bag, as the story requires.

There are quite a few extensions that I can think of for this particular book. One of my favourite ideas is to have the children go out into the forest and collect ingredients for their own Ugly Pie in a pail or similar outdoor appropriate bucket. You could also have the children cut images out of magazines or just use the various craft supplies in the classroom to create an Ugly Pie in a cupcake liner indoors. Another option is to have the children draw/create their idea of the best kind of pie with the materials available in the classroom and then share with their classmates what they would put into their pies. As soon as you are finished reading the story to the children you could ask them what kind of pie is their favourite? Have they had pie before? If they could make their own pie, what would they put in it? Since it would be very time consuming to hear each child’s answer you can potentially have them share their ideas with the neighbor and then head over to the art table and create their masterpiece and while they are working you could circulate and engage with each child and find out what they thought would make a great pie. If the facilities are available and you can use a kitchen space it would be fun to actually use the recipe at the end of the book and each child could make a miniature pie that they could take home at the end of the day or eat at snack time. For this you would need to most likely send a letter home with parents and double check about food allergies etc. or if you need additional supplies brought from home.
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