The big pie
ELIZABETH JENNINGS
The Piemakers Helen Cresswell (Faber 15s)
To write a novel for children is a large under- taking. Most of the things that are of para- mount importance in a novel for grown-ups— subtle characterisation, probing of motives, long descriptions—have to go by the board. Action is everything, or practically everything. Emotion must be simple and easily expressed. Descrip- tion must be reduced to a minimum.
Helen Cresswell's The Piemakers relies on action for most of its effect, though, judging by its title, one would not guess it at once. The piemakers are the Roller family of Danby Dale and making pies has been their trade for many years. Arthy and Jem felt that pies were the most important thing in their lives—both an art and a craft. They have a ten-year-old daughter called Gravella and, though she has occasional dreams of being an actress, she knows that pies are really her whole life too.
In a way, this theme sounds an unpropitious one for a novel for children. How can pies (unless one is eating one) possibly be exciting for the very young? Miss Cresswell has made her book enthralling because she has packed it with intriguing and even exciting incident. Many things happen to the Roller family, but the most exciting one of all is when they bake a gigantic pie for the King. This is how Miss Cresswell describes it: 'Out from the shadows came the huge pie-dish, wheeled by twenty men with straining shoulders. The sun fell for the first time on that glorious crust, perfectly smooth and brown, gleaming faintly. It was impossible, a miracle under that blue sky, standing among the grass and clover like som'e enormous fruit. It was seen and yet impossible to believe.'
Miss Cresswell knows exactly the kind of thing that appeals to children. She realises that a child loves the solid, the specific, above all, the appetising. Which of us has not gloried in the descriptions of food in Little Women or What Katy Did at School? But there is more to The Piemakers than mere succulent descriptions of food. The Roller family are real and con- vincing people; Gravella is a very human child. I believe this book will appeal to many nine to twelve year olds; it certainly deserves to. And V. H. Drummond's drawings are a delight and exactly fitting.
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