Mama Harris' Fried Pie Army

When your mama said you won't melt in the rain because you weren't made of sugar, she was wrong. She never ate one of Mama Harris fried pies. Lawwwwwwd, those pies sure are sweet! Everyone in the itsy bitsy town of Josh, Georgia sure was getting fat from all those fried pies and they weren't slowing down, either. After decades of perfecting her secret recipe, ninety three year-old Mama Harris pies just kept getting better and better. They are so good that they have become an unstoppable force. In fact, they've become an army... Mama Harris Fried Pie Army begins as the townspeople of Josh, Georgia are preparing for the Brementon Day Parade. They all hope the Governor of Georgia will stop by but have no idea of how to make that happen. Oblivious to parade preparations, Mama Harris is busy frying pies. On the other side of town, a bank robbery erupts. A stray squirrel, a souped-up Mustang convertible, and an Army of Fried Pies converge at once to send the town into a tailspin with the Governor of Georgia mired in the middle! THE STORY BEHIND THE BOOK Ninety three year - old Mama Harris is a dynamo of a baker. She also happens to be the Great-Grandmother of Southern Pines, North Carolina youngsters Thomas and Joshua Mandell. Her knack for frying pies - the old Southern way - has inspired all of west Georgia and these two kids from North Carolina with her ability to fry hundreds of pies on a weekly basis. She hands them out all over town and has for many years. One day Thomas announced the need to write a book about Mama Harris, considering she is quite a character herself. That's when Thomas dad, Richard, stepped in to answer his son's call. Not one to back down from a task that needed to get done, Richard got cracking on a children s book that captured not only the essence of Mama Harris and small towns but also the Southern tradition of fried pies. That's when Mama Harris Fried Pie Army was born. "We were on the way back from visiting my wife Mary s family in Atlanta when Thomas simply said we should write a story about Mama Harris, who is Mary s Grandmother. After a few moments of contemplation, I just started to recite the beginnings of a children's story based on Mama Harris and her penchant for making fried pies," shares Richard. Thomas sprinkled details throughout the book, including naming Mama Harris town of Josh, Georgia after his brother Joshua (age four). The real name of the town is Jake, Georgia. Few of Mama Harris family know about the book and Mama Harris has no idea, yet. They all live in west Georgia where the story takes place. Each year they have a big family gathering and the plan is to wrap up books for the family and give it to them right then and there. "We have no idea how Mama Harris will react, although we are confident she will be pleased. She will probably just laugh and say how could someone draw up such an ugly character. She always complains about breaking cameras!" said Richard. "It will be exciting to see everyone s reaction to the writing team s interpretation of certain characters in the book as well as local places where they live and work." Mama Harris Fried Pie Army is the first book in a projected series of Mama Harris Fried Pies books. The next two books to be released in the series are Hurricane Clara and The Fried Pie Army and Mama Harris Fried Pie Country Club. In Hurricane Clara and The Fried Pie Army, Mama Harris fried pies not only calm the townspeople during Hurricane Clara but keep little Union Church from flooding. In the process, Mama Harris discovers a whole new variation on her own fried pie recipe.