Pizza!: A Slice of History

by Greg Pizzoli

From Geisel Award-winning author Greg Pizzoli comes a hilarious and mouth-watering history of pizza.

Do YOU like PIZZA? Because right now, somewhere in the world, someone is eating it. Did you know that in the United States we eat 350 slices of pizza every second? Or that in Sweden they serve pizza with bananas and peanuts? All over the world, people love pizza—but where did it come from? And who made the first pizza?

Join award-winning author and illustrator Greg Pizzoli as he travels through time and around the globe to discover the mouth-watering history of pizza. Bursting with color, flavor, fun facts, and a family-friendly English muffin pizza recipe, Pizza! : A Slice of History reveals the delicious story of the world's best food.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Food, History, Childrens, Humor, Historical

56 pages, Hardcover

First published August 9, 2022

About the author

Greg Pizzoli is the author and illustrator of The Watermelon Seed, winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, Number One Sam, Templeton Gets His Wish, Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower, and coming in April 2016, Good Night Owl. He lives in Philadelphia.

Reviews

[Matal “The Mischling Princess” Baker]

It’s truly amazing the things that adults can learn from children’s picture books. After reading Greg Pizzoli’s PIZZA!: A SLICE OF HISTORY, I discovered that Hawaiian Pizza was actually created in Canada. Who’da thunk?

This PB was adorable. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who didn’t like pizza, and I don’t doubt that they would love this book as well. The story gives children bits of culinary history in small, manageable chunks. I recommend this book to all pizza-loving kids you might know!

[Ms. B]

Author and illustrator Greg Pizzoli makes learning about pizza fun. If you read are or were a fan of Tomie dePaola's The Popcorn Book, you will enjoy this too!

[Cris]

Pizza!: A Slice of History

I thought I knew everything about pizza, but I learned so much! I know I’m picky about my food but I don’t think I want to try the pizzas from other countries.

[Maeve]

I love pizza

[Brittany]

I read this book as an adult reader for the AR Diamond Book Award. This book is written by an amazing author and he did such a wonderful job on this book. I read it with my daughter (a pizza lover) and she enjoyed every page. We learned about the origin of the pizza and how different countries around the world prefer their pizza. It's just a fun, easy to read book about a food we all love!

[Binxie]

This book is so much fun! the limited colors of the illustrations give it an old time feel. And, the history of pizza is fascinating. This is sure to be a hit with mystery readers in the coming year.

[Mary]

An entertaining introduction to the history of pizza that tells of its Italian origin, its immigration to the United States, and the different ingredients used in pizzas around the world. This fun picture book will pair well with Lotta Nieminen's Pizza! An Interactive Recipe.

[dawn]

iconic from start to finish.

[Sara Mchl]

I did not expect to learn so much from a kids' book. The illustrations are very cute and the book is super informative, in a language accessible for kids. Will read it to my students!

[Yapha]

Great overview of the history of pizza!!

[Susan Morris]

Fun read! Now I need pizza for dinner :)

[Rochelle]

Gotta give a book with the title Pizza 5 stars🤩

[Emily]

A very simple nonfiction title on the history of pizza. Lots of fun illustrations and occasional asides add humor and interest.

[Ann Haefele]

Fun facts about pizza and it’s history, with humor. Not too many words on a page, with large text, makes it accessible for young readers.

[Ro]

This made me afraid to try new pizza from other countries without knowing what's on it.

[Karen]

I chose this book to fulfill a reading challenge category to read a children’s book. This book has history, interesting facts, and geographic variations. It was a fun read!

[Karol]

I love PIZZA.
I want to do a pizza tour. The differences in the pizzas from around the world and the states is yummy deliciously interesting.
I’ve had California and Chicago pizzas. I’ve eaten New York and Detroit style pizzas. Costa Rica and Sweden and Brazil pizza sound good to me.

[Danielle Booey]

A winner of a nonfiction picture book. The 3rd graders really enjoyed this one. Not sure about that California pizza style that is mentioned. That might be fake news. But the rest of the book sparked a lot of fun comments and discussion.

[Srujan]

Simplifying the history and background of pizza into slices palatable to 4-7-year-olds. Cute illustrations too. It won't be path-breaking to an adult, but little foodies will like it, I feel. :)

[Angie]

Picture book for school-age students. Possibly a hit with 3rd graders, I know I loved it (I’m forever a 3rd grader at heart)!

[Heath]

I’m t makes sense how Ken Jennings learned so much from children’s. Plus it was enjoyable.

[Edward Sullivan]

A fun, cheery, brightly illustrated history of food.

[Mel]

Fun facts about pizza but the little mouse wasn’t necessary.

[Peacegal]

Featuring a great sense of humor, a very popular subject matter, and vibrant, retro illustrations that bring to mind picture books of the 1960s, this one is a lot of fun for readers of all ages.

[Maria W]

I discovered this book while taking a graduate youth literature course. It has received favorable reviews from KIRKUS, Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books and is an Amazon Editor’s Best Pick Book.

It is a newly published nonfiction book written and illustrated by Geisel award-winning author and illustrator Greg Pizzoli. Pizzoli takes us on a journey through time and around the globe to discover the mouth-watering history of pizza. An engaging bespectacled rat guides readers as they discover the many variations of pizza and their history from around the world. Readers learn how the evolution of this dish illustrates important events in history such as the immigration of Italians to the United States. Pizzoli has created images that are bursting with bright colors and short sentences disguised as fun facts to engage early readers.

This title would support a unit introducing nonfiction text. It is filled with bold images. It is relatable and unifying. Children see that pizza in Sweden has bananas and a pizza in Brazil may have green peas. They will see people of varying abilities, ages, and skin tones enjoying pizza around a large table and learn that people all over the world love pizza. It even includes a family friendly recipe for English muffin pizza. This title can also support description and process writing instruction.

[Calista]

The wild and crazy history of pizza. This is an energetic book on pizza and its history. Now, I'm craving pizza. I would love a Hawaiian pizza. I like pineapple on my pizza, but no one around me eats it, so I never get it. Anyway.

The pace is fast and the artwork is energetic making this easy to learn from. We learn that the Margherita pizza was, at that time, the queen Margherita's favorite pizza and it was named after her. According to this book, it must have tomatoes on it to be considered pizza. I do like some pesto pizza here and again. There is a recipe in the back for kids to make their own with an adult. They use an English muffin as the base.

The book goes into all the speciality pizzas they have now like New York Style, Chicago style, Philly has their own style I didn't know about as does Detroit. They to a rectangle pizza and I got a lot of that in Michigan, but I didn't know that was Detroit style. There is a California style as well.

I learned so much. It started around 400-500 years ago in Italy and immigrants brought it over to us. It was WWII that made it so popular in the states. Now, 350 slices are eaten every second in the US. That's a lot.

The artwork uses 4 colors. It's energetic and frenetic. I'm not crazy about it, but it works for the story. It looks digital.

Kids might be interested about their favorite food.

[Alicia]

I really need a food category for myself in Goodreads...

I had actually just finished the grilled pizzas my husband makes almost weekly when I got the book in the mail and dove in with my fully belly. And I had finished a cool book recently Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World: A History in which I learned a little about the history of tomatoes as it relates to how we connect them to Italy and pizza, so I knew a little of what this children's book was talking about before it even talked about it and I liked that it did a deep dive into everything from deep dish pizza (had in Chicago) to NY style (had in NYC but I also live in New York State) though I haven't had actual Detroit style in Detroit and I grew up in Utica, NY which is known for their tomato pie like Philly. And it's been quite a while since I've been to California so I'll have to check that out though I don't know that I'll ever get to Italy.

Vivid colors, fun with the mouse to bring us along the journey celebrating pizza.

[Becky]

First sentence: This is pizza. And this is pizza. And so is this. And yes, even this is pizza.

Premise/plot: Nonfiction picture book about the history of pizza--that is the premise of Greg Pizzoli's newest book. It is narrated (I suppose) by a little mouse who is surprisingly knowledgeable about pizza!

My thoughts: Very bright and bold. Lots of contrast. Packed with information. (Well, relatively speaking.) I liked it. I did. I could see this being a big hit for readers in early to mid elementary grades.

I think my favorite favorite favorite part was the spread on international pizza. It was just EXTREMELY packed with fascinating tidbits. Like, "In Japan, people sometimes top their pizza with mayo jaga--a combination of potato, bacon, and mayonnaise." Or "In Brazil, it's not uncommon to see green peas on pizza!"

[Becky B]

A picture book history of pizza, the possible ancient origins, the man who made the first Margherita pizza in Italy (and how it got its name), the likely first pizza restaurant in New York, and different variations around the US and the rest of the world today.

I really liked the way Pizzoli stated things in this book. He clarified when we don't know things for sure, different theories, and said "probably" or "possibly" if a fact isn't known for sure. It's a great model text for presenting history that isn't 100% sure. But warning, this is likely to make you hungry for pizza. Hand this to little pizza lovers and curious kids.

Notes on content: There's a skeleton in a black robe to help illustrate that some thought tomatoes were deadly on the spread introducing tomatoes, and he shows up again in the back of the book feasting on pizza with others.

[Zan Porter]

Bursting with color and fun facts, this delightful history of pizza takes readers through time and around the globe to serve up the real story of the world's favorite food.
From Geisel Award-winning author Greg Pizzoli comes a hilarious and mouth-watering history of pizza. Do YOU like PIZZA? Because right now, somewhere in the world, someone is eating it. Did you know that in the United States we eat 350 slices of pizza every second? Or that in Sweden they serve pizza with bananas and peanuts? All over the world, people love pizza--but where did it come from? And who made the first pizza? Join award-winning author and illustrator Greg Pizzoli as he travels through time and around the globe to discover the mouth-watering history of pizza. Bursting with color, flavor, and fun facts, Pizza!: A Slice of History reveals the delicious story of the world's best food.