Ladybug Nominee

Pizza: A Slice of History by Greg Pizzoli (Viking, 2022)

Cheese! Pepperoni! Pineapple? 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? Travel through time and around the globe to discover the mouth-watering history of the world's best food.

About Greg Pizzoli

Greg Pizzoli is the creator of the Baloney and Friends graphic novel series, as well as the author and illustrator of both non-fiction for kids and picture books. Greg studied English Literature at Millersville University; spent two years as a VISTA volunteer; earned a Masters of Fine Art in Book Arts and Printmaking; and taught silkscreen for seven years before he began making picture books full-time. He works in a studio he shares with his wife Kay Healy, who is a printmaker and author. They live in South Philadelphia with their two daughters. His website is https://www.gregpizzoli.com/about

Activities & Links

• An interview with Greg at the Let's Talk Picture Books Blog: http://www.letstalkpicturebooks.com/2017/06/lets-talk-illustrators-27-greg-pizzoli.html
•  Learn more about pizza at https://kids.kiddle.co/Pizza
• Check out 10 Top Tomato Facts from National Geographic Kids at https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/science/nature/ten-top-tomato-facts/

Suggestions for Further Reading

• A read-aloud of this story, along with a pizza-making demo, from the Osterhout Public Library: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-5YaK5VjTs
• Check out the other 2023 Ladybug Longlist titles about food at https://nhbookcenter.blogspot.com/2023/02/ladybug-longlist-food-drink.html
• If you want to read more books illustrated by Greg Pizzoli consider Crunch the Shy Dinosaur by Cirocco Dunlap or Dragon Was Terrible by Kelly DiPucchio. Both were past Ladybug Picture Book Award nominees. 
• If you want to read more non-fiction picture books consider Little Dog Lost by Monica Carnesi or Inky's Amazing Escape by Sy Montgomery.
  

 

This is one of ten titles nominated for the 2023 Ladybug Picture Book Award.

We will be posting information about a different nominee each Friday throughout the summer and will issue a pdf voters guide featuring all ten titles at Labor Day.