Pizza! A Slice of History

hmatherly
Nov 30, 2023
1 min read

Genre/Award/Honor

Informational

2023 Texas Topaz Reading List

Age Group

PreK-6th

Plot Summary

Pizza! A Slice of History is a story of, well, pizza. And who doesn’t like pizza? It tells about how pizza was first created, how it came to the United States, and how pizza is enjoyed all over the world today.

Justification

Pizza! A Slice of History is included in the 2023-2024 Texas Topaz reading list for kindergarten through 2nd graders. Titan, my 9-year-old son, loves pizza (what 9 year-old boy doesn’t love pizza?) I was sure I’d find a tidbit of knowledge that would impress him.

Illustration

I am not a fan of the style of the illustrations in Pizza! A Slice of History, which are simple and almost childish. On the copyright page there is an explanation that is so clever that it sold me on the style: “This book was printed in four spot colors: sweet-tomato red, fresh-basil green, greasy-cheese yellow, and charred-crust black.”

Accuracy

While the information is interesting, there are no references or bibliographies. The information presented in Pizza! A Slice of History is similar to information I found on several websites about pizza. This is not a book about well-researched information. It’s a fun book about pizza!

Format

I read Pizza! A Slice of History as a physical book checked out from the library where I work. The endpapers are decorated with pizza toppings in the four pizza-themed spot colors. While I will always prefer to hold a physical book, I am sure many people will also enjoy this book in a digital format.