Somethin's Cookin' Chronicles: A is for Apple Pie

By R.M. Sorace

What do spelling tests have to do with apple pie? Nothing, unless you're in Ms. B's fourth grade class, in which case hold on to your pencil and your spatula, cuz...somethin’s cookin’.

Will Taylor isn’t looking forward to the fourth grade with its four paragraph essays, multiple digit multiplication, and class brat, batty-nosed Lisa Strattler. Luckily Ms. B, the new teacher in town, definitely doesn’t follow the same old school recipe. In fact, she wants the students to take charge in a 'Rules for School' contest. When Will gets paired up with his best friend Ellie and a group of class misfits, he knows he’s doomed. But something’s in the mix during Ms. B’s spelling test, and Will and Ellie find themselves propelled back in time and headed for an apple pie adventure. With the help of some unlikely heroes, Will and Ellie find there's much more to baking than butter and sugar, and more to pie than meets the eye. The tasty tips they pick up might just be enough to help them win their class contest. Will they curdle and burn, or will they be able to whip up a recipe for success that’s as easy as apple pie?

Includes fun facts and recipes for the whole family to try!

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.M. Sorace
• Release date: Nov 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311310743

Book preview

Somethin’s Cookin’ Chronicles: A is for Apple Pie

Regina Sorace & Annie Grant

Copyright 2013 Sorace

Smashwords Edition

Chapter 1: Morning. Morning already? Morning.

What is that awful sound? Will wondered.

There it was again. It almost sounded like a bird of some sort. A very annoying bird. A rooster? A rooster with a sore throat? A rooster with a sore throat made out of tin? Whatever it was, it was disturbing Will's sleep. It did sound familiar, though. Will's eyes popped open. Now, he recognized the sound. It was his alarm!

Will groaned as he slapped the rooster quiet. Today was the second day of school, which would explain the growing knot in the pit of his stomach. He sighed as he looked out the window. The pouring rain that started last night had stopped. Lots of puddles, but at least he wouldn’t have to take a dorky umbrella to school.

Yesterday had been Will's first day in the fourth grade at Piedmont Elementary. He was in Ms. B.'s class this year. She was new to Piedmont. Her real name was Ms. Bardet, but she had told them to call her Ms. B. Will liked her immediately. Ms. B. was a tiny woman whose feet barely touched the ground when she sat in her teacher chair. She had black hair that almost shimmered blue, and her eyes could only be described as grayish purple. In her opening, Ms. B. had told the class that she was fond of shoes, dark chocolate, and anything with sparkles. She had a pet snail named Sam and a cat named Libra. Ms. B. was not fond of groundhogs, the color ecru, or whininess. She love, love, loved analogies.

Will had been fascinated, as had the rest of the class, not only because of her bright red dress or the fact that her shoes were covered in apples and were very tall, indeed, but because there was something about Ms. B. that you couldn't quite put your finger on. She was definitely one to watch, and one Will suspected, who didn't miss much.

The work load she described was what Will had expected, and he already had the necessary supplies on the list. So, it wasn't the teacher, the workload or even the fact that school had begun that had him dreading his second day back; it was definitely, absolutely and 100% that once again little Lisa Strattler was in his class.

Lisa Strattler, much to Will's dismay, had been in his class every year since kindergarten and could only be explained as the thorn in Will's side, the fly in his soup, the pinecone in his chair. In short, she was his arch nemesis. Lisa had made Will's life miserable ever since the day they were placed in Mrs. Sweaterpoof's K-2 Kinder class. It seemed to Will that Lisa's main goal in life was to report every misstep he made to any teacher who was around to listen. This had resulted in hours of lost recess time and multiple trips to the principal's office.

Why again this year? he grumbled to himself. Fourth grade with its four-paragraph writing assignments and multiple-digit multiplication would be hard enough, but Lisa Strattler, too? Will felt glum as he pulled on his jeans and green hoodie. Another whole year of Lisa Strattler? How would he survive?

Chapter 2: Tropical. Some people are tropical fish…some are piranhas. Tropical.

Will was so lost in miserable thoughts as he munched the waffle he grabbed rushing out the door, that he hardly noticed his best friend Eleanor Dooley (or Ellie as she much preferred to be called) running up beside him. Will had known Ellie since first grade. She appeared in Ms. Readalong's class part way through the year when her family moved to Ohio from California. It was the middle of winter, but Ellie seemed to have brought the sunshine with her. She bounced into class that day with a huge front-tooth-missing grin and green eyes glittering with excitement. Even the smattering of freckles that were sprinkled across her nose seemed delighted to be there. Ellie was ever optimistic and nothing seemed to get her down, not even batty-nosed brats like Lisa Strattler. Will's mom always said Ellie was definitely her own person. Will wasn't quite sure what that meant, but looking at her bright yellow tee-shirt, blue jeans, red tennies, and her jewelry made from what Will believed to be Starburst wrappers, he was positive that she definitely was not like anyone else. She and Will bonded at recess that day in first grade over a lively game of who could find the most twigs in the snow. Ellie, of course, had been ecstatic about the snow and the twigs.

Starting off the year with Starburst? Will asked as Ellie came up beside him.

Yep! I wanted something with lots of colors! You know, really start this year off with a POW! said Ellie, her cornhusk yellow hair bouncing along in its ponytail.

To say that Ellie loved candy would be an understatement. She bought it, ate it, named pets after it, and accessorized with it. It was an obsession really, and every month there was a different candy theme. It always amazed Will that with the amount of candy Ellie ate she had never had a cavity or any tooth issue at all, for that matter. Her teeth lined up neatly in little white rows, unlike Will, who just this summer had gotten a retainer, which he seemed to lose after every meal.

Something on your mind, Mr. Will Taylor? Ellie chirped.

No, he said, Why do you ask?

No real reason, said Ellie, Except your hoodie is on inside out, and you're eating a piece of bread instead of your usual waffle.

What? Will looked down at the object in his hand, and it was, indeed, a piece of bread. No doubt, the piece meant to make its way to the toaster for his father's breakfast.

Will sighed, I guess I'm just not excited about going to school, that's all.

Strattler the Tattler got you down? asked Ellie, hitting the nail on the head. Don't let her get to you. She and her band of hyenas aren't worth the brain power it takes to think about them. Besides, I have a good feeling about this year.

I hope you're right, said Will as they turned the corner toward Piedmont Elementary.

Just then,