Susanna Leonard Hill has a feature on her blog called Perfect Picture Book Friday. It is a list of “perfect” picture books recommended by all sorts of people. I chose this book because it tells you about how to grow what you need for a pizza in simple ways.

So you Want to Grow a Pizza?
Written by Bridget Heos
Illustrated by Daniele Fabbri
24 pages – ages 6+
Published by Amicus Ink on February 2, 2016

Theme/Topic- Making your own food/Eating healthy

Genre- Realistic Fiction

Opening and Synopsis- Opening: “Pizza is delicious. Have you ever wondered where it came from? Like all food, it comes from plants and animals. How would you like to grow a pizza at home?”

Publisher’s Synopsis: “If you really wanted to grow a pizza, you’d need a wheat field, a cow, a pig, a vegetable garden… and you’d run out of room quickly! The sensible narrator advises each child gardener to start small, and they all gain an appreciation for fresh ingredients by the end of each book. A young boy wants to grow his own pizza, learns where the many ingredients come from, and learns how to grow the ingredients to make pizza sauce. Includes kid-friendly pizza sauce recipe.”

What I Thought- This is a really nice book, with gentle humor, present in the tone that the words and illustrations take. The book is rather encouraging, while also informing the reader of what they can do. Kids will enjoy reading the book to learn how they can make their own pizza. The illustrations have a certain warmth to them that generates a feeling of hominess. This is a great book part of a series about making your own food (like a pie, a taco, and a salad). The book features a recipe in the back for making your own tomato sauce, which gives the kids something to do with what they have grown. It’s a great idea to have kids learn to cook and where their food comes from.

Activities and Resources- You can find a recipe for making homemade pizza at Babble.com HERE, which I think would go nicely with the pizza sauce recipe featured in the book.

Even if you don’t have a big field, you can still grow your own wheat in your garden! WikiHow.com has a nice tutorial for growing your wheat crop HERE.

The book does mention that you can start your own compost pile, including basic directions such as what can go in it, but Gardenguides.com has a nice tutorial for creating your own compost pile from scratch right HERE!

To find more Perfect Picture Books please visit Susanna Hill’s blog HERE!

Categories: Age 6-9, Perfect Picture Book Friday

Tags: bridget heos, daniele fabbri, healthy eating, so you want to grow a pizza, susanna leonard hill