The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is about solving the mystery of who killed Horace Bonepenny, but it is also about Flavia beginning to solve the mystery of her family relationships.

• What does Flavia learn about her father and her sisters throughout the story?
• What clues does she put together to arrive at her new understanding?
• What does this process reveal about Flavia herself?

Teaching Suggestion: Discussion of this prompt might be a springboard for discussion of all of the novel’s central thematic threads: Grief’s Effect on Families, The Precocious Child Detective, How the Past Affects the Present, Social Class and Interpersonal Relationships, and Loyalty. As a follow-up, you might also ask students to discuss how the genre of the murder mystery naturally lends itself to the exploration of larger psychological questions about human relationships and behavior and ask whether they can think of any other examples of mystery novels, films, etc. in which the “detective” learns important lessons about people.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with difficulties affecting attention, organization, or reading fluency may find it challenging to effectively gather evidence about the variety of things Flavia learns. You might allow these students to choose just one lesson Flavia learns about a family member and trace her development throughout the novel.