Little Nino's Pizzeria

by Karen Barbour

This exuberant picture book tells the story of Tony, a little boy who helps his father in the family pizzeria. “The scenes are full of visually boisterous activity, with under-pinnings of humorous detail and a clear sense of family closeness so important to the story. A decidedly fresh-looking book.”-- Booklist

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Family, Childrens, Fiction, Italy, 1st Grade

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Karen Barbour has illustrated many books for children, including You Were Loved Before You Were Born; Fire! Fire! Hurry! Hurry!; I Have an Olive Tree; and Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems, which was a Parents' Choice Gold Award winner. She wrote and illustrated Little Nino's Pizzeria, a Reading Rainbow selection. Her paintings have been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Rome. She lives in Point Reyes Station, California.

Reviews

[Kelly Timian · Rating 5 out of 5]

• This book is narrated by a boy named Tony and a pizza restaurant owned by his father Nino. Tony helps Nino make pizzas, serve customers, and bus tables. Together they give extra pizzas to homeless people and the restaurant is very popular because of how good the pizza is. After Nino meets with a business man, “Little Nino’s Pizzeria” closes and he opens a new restaurant “Big Nino” in the interest of making more money. The new restaurant is fancy and equipped with new staff that do not want Tony to help them. Nino realizes that he misses his making pizza in his old restaurant and decides to reverse his business decision. The original pizzeria gets reopened as “Little Tony’s.”

• This book has the characteristics of a picture book because each page has large colorful pictures and only a line or two of text. The language is very simple but still effectively tells the story.

• This book is a good resource for teaching kids about why “new” doesn’t always equate to “better” and that it is important to follow your heart. Even though Nino was making more money with the fancy restaurant, he no longer gets to make pizza which was his true passion that he shared with his son. In the end Nino realizes that he is happier with less money and a job that he truly loves.

• This book is probably for grades K-2. The illustrations are incredibly vibrant and great for children that are just learning to read. It would be great to somehow tie this book into a project about students’ dream jobs and ambitions.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helping your family is stressed in this book...good lesson for young children to follow.

[Zequoia Hyche · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on family and entrepreneurship. I like how the illustrations make you feel like you are in another part of the world. I instantly thought of Italy, because of the setting, a pizza shop. I enjoyed how the boy had responsibilities working with his father, because he was developing a passion for it at such a young age. It kind of confirms that children like to feel important, and really that speaks to almost everyone. No one likes to feel unappreciated or pushed aside. If you want to do something, do it; but be mindful that at the end of the day it is something you want and will enjoy.

[Cortney Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about a little boy who's father owns a pizzeria restaurant. The little boy helps and works with his father. He even gives away leftover pizzas to the homeless. The father closes the doors to the little pizzeria and opens up a big fancy restaurant. The boy tries to help out but instead he is always in the way. The father comes home one night and is exhausted and tells his family he misses making pizzas. So, he goes back to his little pizzeria shop and names it after his son, Tony. It is an inspirational story that shares with us that bigger is not always better. It also is a good story about family and doing what you love.

[Pynteya Bate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the story and funny illustrations. It is about the boy who likes to help his father in the pizzeria. He feels good to be important there, he has responsibilities there. But his father accepts the 'big offer" and opens franchise restaurant.Things started to change for him and his family, a little Tonny doesnt feel important anymore, he is on everybody's way. The story has a good ending and good to read when students have a "family" lesson.

[Contemplative · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a favorite for our family. The story is cute & funny and the illustrations are so vibrant and colorful. My 4yr old and 2yr old never tired of this story. There were always new and wonderful details to be found in the pictures. We borrowed it from the library but look forward to purchasing our own for our book collection.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book teaches children about the importance of family. It could also be used to teach the lesson that "bigger is not always better." When Nino leaves behind his small pizzeria for a large restaurant, he realizes that he is sacrificing time with his family and no longer enjoys what he does so he soon decides to reopen his old, small, cheerful pizzeria.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since we read this when i was little it has been one of my favorite picture books.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it
Jenna,

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, short book about a dad changing from one job to another, written from his son's point of view. Has a happy ending!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

another picture book that was always a winner as a read-aloud when my daughter was little

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tony's dad is named Nino, the same Nino of Little Nino's Pizzeria. Dad's pizza is the best, and a man comes by the restaurant agreeing and offers Dad a bigger restaurant to manage. With the hope of making more money, Dad takes the job and closes Little Nino's down. At the new restaurant, Big Nino's, Tony tries to help out just like he used to but there is no place for him here at the new place. Despondent, Tony goes home, missing how things were at Little Nino's. He's not the only to feel so, because one night Dad comes home saying he's tired of all the money talk and he misses making pizzas. So Dad leaves Big Nino's, and reopens Little Tony's Pizzeria.

I liked the realistic side of this story that addresses a common issue in all families, money. Sometimes those decisions can come with different and harder circumstances, especially from a child's POV. However, I thought it somewhat unrealistic that Dad walks away from the bigger restaurant and goes back to the small one, especially so quickly.

[Kia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little Nino's Pizzeria is a book about a little boy named Tony helping his dad work in his pizza shop. Tony talks about how important making pizza and building a community is to his dad, Nino, and to him. One day a business man with money comes into Little Nino's Pizzeria and offers to buy the shop. Nino makes a deal with the business man and opens a new shop called 'Big Nino's.' The pizzeria becomes so busy and Tony isn't able to help his dad like he used to. Eventually, Nino says that he misses making pizzas by hand and is tired of running a big business. Nino closes down the big, fancy pizza shop and opens up Little Nino's once again- but this time he named it, 'Little Tony's.' This book shows children the importance of family, community, and the value of time. It also mentions in the beginning how left over pizzas would go to the homeless (my favorite part of the book). Overall, I would recommend this book to others and would love to read this to my preschool class.

[Christine Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cutting critique on the effects of capitalism on an individual's happiness! I'm in love with Nino, and if he ever needs another wife I hope he calls me up.
The story was so cute, and I love the illustrations. It has that funky 80s vibe to it that makes kids like me nostalgic for stuff like the old Chuck-E-Cheese and the blue wave design on paper cups.

[Alice V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just taking a picture walk through Little Nino's is exciting. The vibrantly colored illustrations are full of action! It's also a terrific book to teach about how difficult change can be, priorities, and community. This book seemed to work a bit better with 2nd grade up.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations, with their Matisse-like use of color, fill the pages with energetic activity making a visually appealing backdrop for a story of a family restaurant.

[Ammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My preschooler really like it.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a Reading Rainbow video to go along with this in my class.

[Sydney Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehh.

[Robert Ellington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with my son during his class today.

[Amy Elizabeth Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a simple little story about a pizzeria and the family who owns the restaurant. It made me hungry for a delicious homemade pizza.

[Hobbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my 9month old and he seemed captivated. We give this a really good rating of 3.5!

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tony tells the story of how he helped in the family business making and selling the best pizza in town.

[Becky B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tony's dad has a very popular little pizzeria. Tony loves helping out around the place. But one day an important man comes and soon Tony's dad has a much bigger pizza place. But there doesn't seem to be any place for Tony there, or any time for Tony to spend with his dad any more. Soon Tony's dad quits the big restaurant and re-opens his little pizzeria.

The story is sweet in that Tony's dad realizes what's really important and takes some drastic steps to spend more time with his family. I also like how they share the extra pizza with the homeless. The illustrations are just not my style.

Notes on content: Some of the pictures do show adults smoking pipes, cigars, and cigarettes.

[Jana Justen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are beautiful, very vibrant and colorful. Children will love looking at all the people in the story. The actual story, I'm not such a big fan of. There are missing details in the story and doesn't flow very well, instead of explaining why Nino closes his pizzeria to open another restaurant, he just does it. That can be confusing for a young child. I would use this in my classroom to show how pictures can enhance a story, making it richer with details from the picture. I wouldn't use it for the story.

[Deanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for a mild multicultural lesson. It has a great message that it's always the best idea to do what makes you happy. This book can be used in the upper grades (higher elementary or middle) to tell a simple story of the complex ideas of the growth from a Mom and Pop to a franchise.
I gave it three stars because I think the illustration could have better correlated with the words on each page...you'll have to read it to see what I mean :)

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tony and his father own a pizza parlor, and has the most delicious pizza! As their restaurant gets more and more famous, their family unfortunately is unable to do what they love to do best: make pizza! This book has great vocabulary for sight words, and is good for a comprehension lesson; predicting what will happen next, and why they think Tony and his dad were no longer able to make as many pizzas as they used to.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely gorgeous, vibrant illustrations. The characters jump out and carry you. But the story is a little too predictable. I am not sure what I would use this for, it's a big person message, do what you love, not what makes money, but in a little kid's book.

[Kerri Harshaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good to teach children about economics, entrepreneur, making money, costs and benifits of business expnsion.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good message to this story about what is most important.