Little Inventions: Pizza

Everyone knows that pizza came from Italy but they may not know that tomatoes came from the Americas. The Europeans thought tomatoes were poisonous until a brave Neapolitan chef named Raffaele smeared some cooked tomatoes on a thick pancake and baked it in a very hot wood oven. When a taste test didn't kill him, others tried it and word spread quickly about the delicious pizza. Queen Margherita tried the pizza and loved it. Chef Raffaele was so proud that he named his tomato, mozzarella, and basil pizza after the queen, and it is called that still today.

Little Inventions by Raphaël Fejtö is a series of kid-sized books about objects that children encounter every day with little thought of how, where and when they were invented. In fact, the beginnings of these common objects are fascinating and their true stories are told here in amusing anecdotes and charming illustrations. Each book closes with a memory game, making them useful for early reader groups.

Raphaël Fejtö wrote his first book at school at 11 years old, and by 12 he had become a child actor. He went on to make films, including as co-star in Louis Malle's "Au revoir, les enfants" in 1987. He lives in Paris, where he has written and illustrated over 30 children's books.