Sweet Dream Pie: A Delicious Treat Whipped with Fantasy and Fun

When I first saw Sweet Dream Pie, it was in a rather TALL stack of tomes, my then 5 year old, wanted to borrow from the local library. Since we go through 6-10 books a day with this child, I figured this one would at least get one reading. Imagine my surprise when we ended up not only reading it not once, not twice but every day for the next 2 weeks! My eldest son (now 14) even got into the act stating,"I remember this book....it's wonderful!".

Well, dear reader I have to be honest here. Sweet Dream Pie is a wonderful book in all ways.....prose....illustrations....and story.

It begins with "Pa Brindle" waking "Ma" and convincing her to make some of her famous "Sweet Dream Pie" of which he promised only to eat ONE tiny piece! She begrudgingly agrees and the fun begins. They lug down to the kitchen the largest cooking utensils and containers that you have ever seen and begin to make this gooey, sugary, fantastically magical concoction.

The tremendous crust is fashioned and Ma and Pa begin to toss every sweet thing they can find in the kitchen into the enormous mixing bowl! Everything from licorise sticks to sugar cubes goes into it with chewing gum to boot! If this isn't magical enough for you, a chocolate tornado springs up outside in the street and knocks the paperboy, Johnny Lunds, off his bicycle! Pa shoves the pie into the oven, sets it on "special" and they sit back to wait.

It just so happens that the day they choose to make the pie is one for record heat so the reader sees the townspeople as they suffer throughout the day while smelling this luscious aroma baking. By evening the townspeople are so obsessed with the idea of the pie that they think of nothing else. All the neighbors stop by, using one excuse after another in the hopes of tasting this tantalizing treat.

Pa and Johnny Lunds bring out the enormous pie, sitting it down in the midst of some very hungry people. The Brindles blow upon it to cool and then Ma begins to cut it. Ma warns everyone who takes a piece to "be careful, This pie is very rich. One piece is all you need." Of course, as all good stories go, no one listens to her and the feast begins!

One man eats so much he appears to have a bowling ball under his shirt, Pa Brindle ate "sweet sixths and even sweet sevenths", and the others did their part to empty the pie tin as well. Except of course for little Amy McPherson who could not eat pie because it made her sneeze.

As the pie disappears the people began to sleepily make their way home. Most reach their destinations but a few lay down and sleep wherever they slipped into sweet slumber. And that's when the dreaming begins.

Pa's dream is the first to make an entrance and what an entrance it is! It is huge, alternately whistling and urging the other dreams to follow it through the streets. From every house, from every bed, come dreams of all shapes, sizes, colors and descriptions. They are fantastic and wild as well!

Ma watches them for awhile from her front porch then gets her broom with which she begins to sweep up and dispose of each and every one of those dreams. As they disappear, each dreamer begins to settle his/her restless sleep and falls into deep slumber. And watching it all is little Amy, who for once is glad she was allergic to pie!

This book is a wonderful addition to any child's bookcase and though I found it in paperback form at Barnes and Noble for about $6.00, I would urge the reader to spend a little bit extra and order the hardback version. I actually purchased the hardback version of this as a gift for my son, inscribing the front cover as well. I know it will continue to be a favorite of his and I can see him reading it someday to his children as well.

It is definitely a book to share and keep, a real treasure with a story woven in richness of word and illustrations by Mark Teague, that make the story come to life in a wonderfully comic book way. His drawing of the dreams which would have been all too easy to make very frightening were more whimsical and amusing instead of scary, a plus if you have a child who has a vivid imagination.

This book would make a wonderful addition to any child's library and would be an excellent choice as a gift as well. Keeping this book on hand would prove to be a good idea as it is appropriate for nearly any age and both boys and girls alike.

Amazon.com
$5.99

Barnes and Noble.com
$5.39