Shoofly Pie Naomi Shihab Nye Summary

“Shoofly Pie” written by Naomi Shihab Nye, is a story about a girl named Mattie who decides to start working at a restaurant to help her cope with her mother’s death. The death of Mattie’s mother is crucial to her, and a couple of days after the funeral she goes downtown and clears her mind. To find herself in front of a restaurant whose name drew her in, “Good for You Restaurant.” Mattie believes that she needs something good for her, ironic as the restaurant is called “Good for You”. She starts to enter, she seems to enjoy the environment and atmosphere of the place, having conversations with the cashier, asking about the work and if she enjoys it. Their temporary manager told her to show up to work the next day, and she followed, he said. …show more content…

She enjoys the job until a coworker, who she hears everyone talk about, shows up and starts bossing her around changing everything she had arranged. Johnny’s love for his grandfather inspired Mattie to create a new idea that “they should concoct a meal based on the beautiful things his grandpa used to cook for him when he was growing up” (Nye 195). The new dish that she adds to the specials board and dishes that other people would start to add in the restaurant would change the restaurant environment and would bring many different people together.“Shoofly Pie” is very well written, scenes in the story are well described getting a sense of each character’s personality and the story behind each of the dishes. The author’s use of imagery shows how significant the dish is to one and how simple dishes can mean so much and have great significance. They introduced new cultures to the restaurant as they served “lentil soup, baba-ghanouj, okra with rice, and falafel sandwiches” (Nye 196), for three days, leading to Riyad’s cultural dishes becoming very popular allowing people to try something