An Apple Pie I Will Not Buy: Based on a True Story

One cold December day, a good friend is going into town and offers to get whatever the narrator might need or want in town. She asks for a tasty apple pie-but the friend refuses! He will not buy an apple pie, no matter what.

But why not? Is it because it is a treat and not a need? No, that's not the case-treats are fine, if you keep them in line. And the friend will buy other kinds of pie: banana cream, key lime, cherry, raisin, custard, or even a chicken pot pie! But an apple pie, he will not buy. Some rules one does not bend, such as taking care of others' needs before your own wants. Instead, the friend buys apples so that they can make a tasty apple pie together. And when they do, it turns out to be very grand indeed.

This children's story tells the tale of two friends who work together to make an apple pie and talk about important rules for life along the way.

Noreen C. Phillips has taught high school in Fairbanks, Alaska; run a buffing machine in St. Paul, Minnesota; worked at a family apple orchard in Lake Elmo, Minnesota; served as a public defender, working with adults and children, in Ramsey County, Minnesota; and worked at a unique daycare in Maplewood, Minnesota. Her apple pies are legendary in more than one state.