The Pizza Book, Fun, Facts, a Recipe - the Works!

Introduces children to the history of pizza and includes pizza trivia and a recipe

Grade 3-5-- A lighthearted look at the evolution of this crowd pleaser and how it is made today. The book is amusing and informative, but the organization is confusing at times. After a couple of pages about the "invention" of pizza in Italy 2000 years ago, there is a double-page spread of the tools and ingredients needed. Turn the page, and read more history, this time about yeast breads. After that, readers are told what to do with the tools and ingredients. And so it alternates, until the end of the book when the history and recipe directions come out even. For beginning cooks, that's a little daunting; but on the last page is a traditionally written "recipe summary" that's not too difficult and very good. The watercolor-and-ink cartoons are lively and helpful; cheerful, toga-clad Italians are found doing their chores and making pies in the village square; later, a present-day father-and-daughter team busily work on a concoction of their own while exchanging pleasantries and trivia in conversation balloons. Not an essential purchase, but for pizza aficionados, it's the works! --Carolyn Jenks, formerly at Oyster River Elementary School, Durham, NH
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.