It's mainly about the main character trying to find a way to get rid of his enemy jeremy ross. This book was easy and interesting to read. I would recommend leaving this fun and amusing read until you can be sure of a child or class' prolonged concentrationĪs a high school student i thought this book was easy and interesting to read. The book has a lot of pages and a lot of words and for a Pre-school or Foundation class, may be too long, even if the social lesson is best directed at their age group.

The one downside to this book that I can see is its length. In need of advice the boy turns to his father for help, who digs out his old, crinkled, secret recipe for Enemy Pie! The plan is to feed it to the enemy, but there is a part of the plan that only the young boy can do: before the pie is eaten, the boy must spend a full day with his enemy, 'pretending to have fun.' From this brief description, I'm sure many adults would predict the ending, but for children I would hope the relief that comes after threats of poisoning is a pleasant surprise and educational at the same time. The story concerns a young boy who does not like the new boy down the street, declaring him enemy number one.

The illustrations have a delightful style and the story is wonderfully written. Two adults sat in bed and read Enemy Pie and thoroughly loved it, and this was not only because the father in the story looked like my girlfriend's dad. I first read this book the other day not to my child or class but to my girlfriend. Yet, the first person narrative and Calahan King's wonderful illustrations do carry the reader along with ease, even if the ultimate revealation and resolution do lack some of the needed surprising element.Īll in all, I think that I didn't find this book as charming as others I've read recently mostly because of my almost-nephew opinion of it, which was a mere 'you can read it to me but fast, OK?' instead of his regular delight at me taking a turn as bedtime reader. The thing is, it takes little to figure out that the Enemy Pie is not what we first suspect but mostly a clever way to help a young boy take a chance on a new friend. In this case, the catalyst for that getting-to-know-you moment is Dad's Enemy Pie's recipe.

And as most of those stories go, this one also gets resolved once the protagonist gives the new comer a chance to become a friend. And this book sits comfortably among them. that we don't know we fear and despise, are a whole sub-genre. The story starts when Jeremy Ross moves to the neighborhood and ruins the perfect summer of our young protagonist.Īll on their own, stories dealing with children declaring new arrivals their enemies, a.k.a. While very entertaining, this picture book didn't hold our (that's mine and my four-year-old almost-nephew) attention as other books do, perhaps because early enough in the story we saw Dad's plan coming, hence spoiling the surprise.

Enemy pie by derek munson