Pete's a Pizza by William Steig

HarperCollins, New York, 1998.
Hardcover edition, 32 pages, ISBN 978-1591127406.

Pete is sad and bored because it's raining and he can't play outside. His father decides to make him into a pizza to cheer him up. Steig creates a happy family game where Pete is kneaded into dough, sprinkled with pretend ingredients, and baked in the couch/oven. By the time the pizza runs away and is captured and hugged, the sun has come out again.

Steig's simple, cartoonish illustrations are colored lightly on white space, focusing attention on the characters and the action of the story. The text is concise and direct with no more than two lines on each page, simply narrating the lighthearted drama.

This is fun to add to a toddler story hour about pizza or imagination, and is especially enjoyable to recreate at home.

Narrative skills can be enhanced by sequentially relating the process of pizza making.

Charlotte Zolotow Award Honor Book ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice IRA/CBC Children's Choice

ALA Notable Children’s Book Bulletin Blue Ribbon (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books) Publishers Weekly Best Book