Review by Booklist Review
PreS-K. Young pizza lovers will enjoy this charmingly illustrated story about the pizza-making process. Pizzeria owner Sally grows her own tomatoes and makes tomato sauce. Then she makes dough, layers ingredients on it, and bakes the pizza. Finally, to the delight of eager customers, everyone can eat. On each left-hand page, the text, featuring short sentences and basic vocabulary, is set within pizza-shaped white space ringed by items related to the story; opposite is a full-page picture showing Sally at work.\b Simply drawn cartoonlike illustrations, in bold, cheerful colors and patterns, fill the pages, incorporating occasional scanned images (pizza, tomatoes) for contrast and texture. There are numerous items to identify, from utensils to ingredients, though some details are puzzling (if Sally grows her own tomatoes, why do canned tomatoes figure prominently in visuals?). Still, young ones will appreciate the vibrant art and equally bubbly overview. The appended pizza recipe will get readers and listeners into the kitchen for more fun. --Shelle Rosenfeld Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-Early each morning, with her orange-striped cat at her side, Sally opens up her pizzeria. Before her customers arrive, she chops, stirs, and simmers her sauce; measures, mixes, and kneads her dough; and then assembles the delectable pies. Once they are in the oven, they fill her shop with a mouth-watering aroma. Soon hungry children surround her. Neighbors begin to call in their orders, "but eating pizza right here at Sally's Pizzeria is best of all." At the end of a long, busy day, Sally and her cat enjoy a slice themselves. Cheerful, precisely composed gouache paintings accented with photo collages of fresh ingredients add warmth and humor to the story. Sally is a jolly, rosy-cheeked woman with an unwavering smile on her open face. Her amusing cat is depicted kneading and tossing the dough along with her, which will make readers chuckle. Children who like to help out in the kitchen will enjoy trying out the recipe included in the back.--Linda L. Walkins, Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Brighton, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Beginning with tomatoes from a community garden, this simply written story explains every step Sally the pizza-maker and her helper cat follow to make and bake mouth-watering pizzas. Bold shapes and primary colors in the elementary illustrations mingle with photo-collaged tomatoes, onions, cheese, and pizzas to create visual excitement. Sally's recipe appears at the back of the book. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Wellington likes to write and draw people at work: bakers, firefighters, farmers. Here she follows a day in a pizza-maker's life. The quiet, almost subversive, didacticism is counter-balanced by an emphatic use of color in the artwork. Scattered throughout the gouache paintings are photographs of tomatoes, cheese labels, onions and a good old pizza pie. Though not overburdened with details, the text is here to impart information such as the use of ingredients, the steps in making a pizza and how Sally runs her shop. Best of all is the underlying message: Sally loves her work. She wears a great big grin. So does her helpful cat companion, and so do the kids who are shoveling a slice down their gullets, happy as little birds in Sally's nest. Good pizza is tailor made to bring out a smile, and Wellington gets that zestful pleasure just right. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
