It has been a year since Selina and her family moved from Pennsylvania to Upper Canada to escape the effects of the American Civil War. Selina is an inch taller and her family has settled into a new home, although echoes of the war still reach them. Grandmother comes to visit, bringing with her cousin Henry, who has been deeply affected by the hatred and violence shown towards the peaceful Mennonites. Henry finds new hope working in the local sawmill, and Selina discovers the secret behind the oddly named shoo-fly pie that she and Grandmother make for Henry.

Selina and the Shoo-Fly Pie reunites author Barbara Smucker, illustrator Janet Wilson, and quilter Lucy Anne Holliday, the team that combined a strong story and an inventive approach to illustration in creating Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt. Nor do they disappoint here. Wilson’s masterful illustrations glow with clear light. Smucker deftly weaves details of Mennonite life into the story without allowing them to dominate. It is Holliday, though, who gives this sequel its freshness. In Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt, Holliday used traditional pieced patterns to create frames for the illustrations. Here, she creates appliqués (pieces stitched onto a plain background) that draw on the text and illustrations for their inspiration: delicate trilliums (like those found on the Conestoga River near Selina’s home); hands with hearts in their palms to represent the creativity and love put into the baking; and those ever-swarming flies stitched across the pages. Best of all, the reader is rewarded at the end with two recipes for the pie. Selina and the Shoo-Fly Pie is a feast to delight readers of all ages.