Pizza Counting

by Christina Dobson, Matthew Holmes (Illustrator)

These pizzas have all the right ingredients. Pepperoni, cheese, and onions make a purr-fect pizza cat. Is it time for a clock pizza made of sausages and peppers?
Count the toppings on these pizza masterpieces, then divide them up into filling fractions. Zesty pizza facts add to the flavorful fun.

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Food, Nonfiction, School

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Adeline Cantu]

Great read, it's a fun and engaging book especially because it's about pizza and everyone especially young students love pizza. I think this is a great book to incorporate into math lessons. It's a very descriptive and colorful book with great illustrations. Really loved how it brought up many things especially like using similes and brining up a holiday all while also being able to count do math through-out the book.

[Sarah Harper]

I do not know a child that does not love pizza. If a book centers around a food that they love, and that they can find math entangled by its shapes, it is an engagement tool all in its own. This book builds from counting skills, to higher math strategies. This is a book that students can grow with.

[Jill Westerbur]

The book "Pizza Counting" is a simple yet spectacular book. I gave it 3 stars as it was simple but well done. I believe there are many books like this one. The book uses pizza toppings as a way to teach counting. It does not only teach counting but includes fractions so this book can relate to many ages.

[Janet]

A math title especially showing fractional slices of various pizzas. Personally I was more interested in th facts about the history of pizza and the various designs on the illustrations. But overall this title is quirky

Scott county PL. Georgetown, KY

[Karla]

Wonderfully illustrated
varied text
engaging
short but appropriate
loved it

[Lisa]

Fun and unique illustrations, it has additional fun pizza facts at the bottom of a lot of pages.

[Kelsey Wright]

better for kids 2nd grade and up

[Leigh]

Title: Pizza Counting
Author: Christina Dobson
Illustrator: Mattew Holmes
Genre: Concept book
Theme(s): Counting, mathematics concepts, science, social studies
Opening line/sentence: “If you think pizza is delicious, say ‘Delizioso!’
Brief Book Summary: Pizza is used to introduce various mathematics concepts to students including fractions, addition, multiplication, and counting. This book takes it one step further by even incorporating history facts such as when explorers brought the first tomato seeds from America to Europe, and how many twelve-inch pizzas it would take to circle the Earth at the equator.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1: Children's Literature
This yummy book is all about numbers, counting, and math skills with a little of bit of history thrown in on the side, too. On some pages there is a mouth-watering picture of a pizza that has various toppings used to create a face, a flag, and even a cat. The other page includes a breakdown of the exact amount of toppings used to make the creation, for example, to make a cat use 13 onion strips, 14 chives, 15 pepperoni slices, and 16 leaves of basil; the actual ingredients are in each corner of the page along with the number, and in the corner with the pizza are various addition problems to show how the numbers can be used to add up to new numbers. Information is included about how pizza was created, how many pizzas are consumed in America every year, and what pizza is made of. Also included is a brief introduction about the concepts of fractions and how to decipher which amount is greater along with a brief touch on multiplication problems. This is a great book for preschoolers on up to help introduce numbers beyond one to ten, and includes the actual visuals of the numbers as well. The book may also benefit a classroom and/or library with the concepts of mathematics that could lead to various projects. 2003, Charlesbridge,
— Christy Oestreich
Professional Recommendation/Review #2:School Library Journal
K-Gr 4-The math concepts of addition, large numbers, and fractions are illustrated with artfully decorated pizzas depicting a smiling face, a cat, a flag, etc. The accompanying text counts the ingredients: "-five eggplant stars, six red onion strips, seven cheese stripes, and eight red pepper pieces." Numerals are used to show the total of two items, for example, 5 + 6 = 11. Another pie is symmetrically decorated with 100 garnishes and duplicated 10 times on one page and 100 times on the next to illustrate the numbers 1000 and 10,000. Millions and billions are demonstrated by citing the number of pizzas needed to circle the globe and to reach the moon. The book concludes with the pies divided to show fractional concepts. The tone is instructional rather than entertaining, but this title's use for teaching may be complicated by the wide range of topics covered. The concepts are as simple as 1 + 2 = 3 and as complex as choosing the larger fraction between 3/12 and 1/4. Although the text gives some interesting facts about pizza, it sometimes lacks a clear focus. Still, the use of pizza provides a real-life application for learning. It is most effective in illustrating fractional concepts and helping students visualize large numbers. -Adele Greenlee, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Response to Two Professional Reviews: I disagree with the first review in that I think this book would be way too advanced for a preschooler. It discusses complex concepts like, “It would take more than 131,000,000 twelve-inch pizzas to circle the Earth at the equator.” In regards to the second review however, the realistic looking pizzas are a perfect way for students to visualize large numbers and difficult fractional concepts.
Evaluation of Literary Elements: I absolutely loved the realistic illustrations used throughout this book. The bright, colorful, variety of pizzas seen in this book are an easy way to keep young children all the way up to adults captivated the entire read. My other favorite aspect of this book are the unique ways the bolded text appears on each page in a different format depending on the picture.
Consideration of Instructional Application: I would most definitely use this book as an introduction to a unit about fractions, counting, and equations. Being that this book is more advanced than an early reading concept book, I would utilize this in a 3rd-5th grade classroom. I think kids will respond nicely to the eye catching illustrations and cross curriculum concepts brought up.

[Jennifer]

I think this is my new favorite counting book! Even kids who don't like math will be drawn to this book. Through the use of decorated pizzas, children learn to add, multiply, and understand fractions. The author uses different pizza ingredients to create pictures on the pizzas and the reader learns to add and multiply them. What makes this book a winner is not only the creative artwork, but the fascinating comparisons (it takes 1,260,000,000 12 inch pizzas to reach the moon) and anecdotal facts (the first pizzas did not have sauce because people thought tomatoes were poisonous).

Themes: addition, mulitiplication, fractions
Award: IRA/CBC Children's Choice Award
Publication: 2003
Grades: 1-4

Classroom uses: Students can decorate their own pizzas and then used them to make different math problems.

[Nicole Fellows]

I liked this book, but I'm afraid it could be a little confusing for younger kids. It has so many different kinds of information in it that it might be a little overwhelming. For instance, on one page there are pizza facts, separate groups of pizza toppings showing the number of toppings, a pizza with the toppings on it in some type of pattern, and then various addition facts. All very useful information, just kind of a lot. Then in the back, there are more interesting facts, and then talks a little bit about fractions. I think it is a very valuable book because of all the math information that it contains, but I might be careful sharing it with children, just in making sure they don't get too confused.

[Teri]

I thought the beginning mind be confusing for children, when it doesn't count cheese as a topping... because I am an adult and think that cheese would be one topping. Anyways, I also thought it would be hard to read to just one age of a child. It starts with counting, yes, but then in the back it goes into hard fractions etc. Loved the pictures though, it made my mouth water. You might be able to read just a section of this book to a child of a certain age/level. In this way I think it might be a good teaching resource. A fun thing you could do with your kids then is actually do what is happening in the book (like make a pizza).

[Jamie Bye]

This book creates great visual aids to help children grasp how how fractions work. I love the idea of using pizza as the whole, and each type of topping as a part of the pizza. The number of each type of topping is given, but it is up to the reader to determine the actual fraction. I also found it wonderful that the author examined how many pizza it would take to reach the moon or to wrap around the earth. These are comparisons and numbers that will get children excited to learn and also help engrain the meaning of fractions. I believe that this book on fractions would be very useful in a classroom discussion.

[Dana]

I thought this book was ok.
I didn't like the beginning however because it could be confusing for a kid how she said, "This is a plain cheese pizza. It has zero pieces on top. It has only crust, cheese, and tomato sauce." So wouldn't they might think that is 3 items?

I do like however that it shows each item that goes on the pizza on one page with the number of pieces that will go on the pizza. This way the kids can see a picture of 3 green peppers and then go count them on the pizza.

[Candice Mckinnon]

Pizza counting is a really cute book that talks about the one thing that many children love, pizza! I like that it is informative and adds information about the ingredients that are used on the pizza. This book incorporates counting and addition. As you read farther, it also addressed multiplication and division. Pizza counting can be used for various grade levels and the teacher can include a pizza project to make the lesson more hands on.

[Brandy Gilbertson]

One thing I found interesting about this book is that the copyright page is not at the beginning and instead at the very end. This is a really cool book for an introduction to math concepts and very informational as well. It includes a very nice introduction to fractions, too. It contains many facts about pizza that are incredibly interesting; one catch is that it does say pizza is healthy, which can be partially true but it made me laugh.

*Book from text

[Amanda Jackson]

After reading the reviews, I seem to have the same concern as a few others. This book is very exciting with the fun facts about pizza but it would be very confusing to read to one age group of students since it does go from simple addition equations, to the relationship between addition and multiplication of large numbers, to fractions. You may be able to read sections of this book at a time to different levels of students.

[Autumn Yoon]

Pizza Counting is a book that would be a good resource to use when introducing counting, and fractions. The book engages young learners through using illustrations and pizza examples. The beginning of the book mainly focuses on counting, but later begins to introduce fractions. This book would be appropriate for students in grades 1-2.

[Sabeen]

When i read this book, i though it would be a great large group activity. Using Pizza and veggie props, while the teacher is reading aloud the students can create the pizza on their mats. In this way they are practicing listening and following directions.

[Michelle]

gives pizza facts. Also talks about fractions. Counts the toppings. Also does addition problems. Says that 131,000,000 pizza's go around the world. In America we eat 2,375,000,000 pizza's each year!!

[Amila Karabegovic]

Pizza Counting is a great way to show children numbers with pizza toppings while also teaching them how to add. This is a good book that that could be used to teach beginning math.

[Tracy Schillemore]

Better for older children. Good for math class.

[Nia King]

Who doesn't love pizza? The author does a great job connecting a favorite food to math. Count the toppings! Love this book.

[Vicki]

This counting book with nice photos of pizzas decorated in different ways.