Today I read one of my favorite picture books by one of my favorite authors to my third graders. The author is Margie Paltini and the book is Piggie Pie.
Gritch the Witch is hankering for a delicious piggie pie dinner, but there aren’t any in the pantry. What to do? She figures out that she needs to head to Old MacDonald’s farm to pick up a passel of piggies. (One of the things I love about this book is her use of alliteration.) Gritch think this is going to be easy, but piggies can be smart and tricky. They disguise themselves as ducks, cows, chickens and Old MacDonald himself! Gritch quickly loses what little patience she has. Even after a starving wolf tips her off that the pigs are too darn smart, she can’t stop wanting that piggie pie! She invites the wolf back to her place for lunch and he greedily accepts. The kids are always shocked to see the final page where the wolf and Gritch’s lunch plans are revealed in thought bubbles.
The kids love this book as much as I do. I get stomp around and grumble and yell like Gritch when she doesn’t get what she wants. It’s a fun read that always gets laughs!
Gritch does have a couple more stories:
In Zoom Broom, Gritch’s trusty old broom breaks down and she has to find a new one. She heads off to Foxy’s and a sly fox salesman tried his hand at selling one to her. This book has a great take on Abbot and Costello’s Who’s On First skit. I have even showed that skit to the kids to show them this pop culture icon.
In Broom Mates we meet Gritch’s sister who has shown up a day early for a big family get together. Madge reminds me of my own older sister….which the kids say makes me Gritch. This one gives us a fun look inside Gritch’s house. We see hints from her other stories and some pop culture references like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.
Gritch was the character that made me love Margie Palatini, tomorrow I’ll share more of her fabulous books.
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