Where is the apple pie?

PreSchool-In a simple, circular text with colorful pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations, Gorbachev tells the rather complicated story of what happens to an apple pie. After a goat buys it, robbers steal it, and so begins the saga in which a wary pig asks a cumulative series of "where" questions prompted by his friend's responses. Finally, the two end up back on Main Street where it all began, and the pig again asks, "So where is the apple pie?" Children will delight in spying the thieves flying away in a balloon waving the last piece of pastry. The goat and pig appear on the left side of each spread, while an illustration of the answer to the question is found on the right. The artwork is bright and inviting, and has a number of characters that youngsters will enjoy following throughout the adventure. The many little details scattered throughout will keep everyone flipping back pages to catch what they have missed. The story is simple enough to allow the pre-reading set to predict the upcoming text based upon the pictures, and the pig's repeated questions will strike a chord both with children and the adults worn out with their continuous "why's." A pleasant addition to a storyhour collection, this one is unlikely to sit on the shelf after the first reading.
Amy Lilien-Harper, Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Gorbachev (Nicky and the Big, Bad Wolves, 1998, etc.), an evanescent cumulative story that takes readers on a treasure hunt that ends before the treasurean apple pieis recovered. A billy goat is strolling along the lane when its neighbor, the pig, issues a greeting and asks where the goat has been. The goat replies that he has been to the bakery, where he bought an apple pie, but robbers stole it. ``Where are the robbers?'' asks the pig, launching a call-and-response session as the goat's one-line answers trigger further one-line queries from the pig. That pie has been carried into a forest that burns, and out into a lake, across the desert, and all the way to horizon through fog and wind. For most spreads, the goat and pig chat companionably on one page while opposite it, the pie's adventures are transpiring, complete with thefts, forest fires, wind storms, and camels drinking their fill. The pig tenders a final summary of all that went before, as meanwhile the entire cast of characters amass. ``So where is the apple pie?'' Not here. The pace is crisp, the punch line a breeze, and the whole package is lighter than pie crust; children will pick up the pattern of the chatter quickly and join in the pig's questions at story hours. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.