The Pizza That We Made

by Joan Holub, Lynne Avril (Illustrator)

Level 2. Suzanne, Max, and Jake are making a pizza. First they mix the dough. Then they add the toppings and cheese. Soon it's ready. Yum!

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Childrens, Storytime

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

NY Times bestselling children's book author:
GODDESS GIRLS series + HEROES IN TRAINING series (w Suzanne Williams); THIS LITTLE TRAILBLAZER a Girl Power Primer; ZERO THE HERO; I AM THE SHARK. Lucky to be doing what I love!

Reviews

[Christine Fricker (EDU 378) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Text to Teaching Connection

This is a great story about children who work together to make a pizza. It details how they make the pizza, clean up afterwards and enjoy the pizza together.
I think a great reading response activity would be to either make a pizza together (if you have access to a kitchen) or you could have the kids create their own pizzas with paper cut outs or play dough.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun story to read with children that depicts the steps to making a homemade pizza. It shows the various ingredients and the last page has a recipe that parents and children can follow to make a pizza together. The narrative is simple and the colorful illustrations will entertain even young children. After reading this book, don't be surprised if your children ask to make a pizza - ours did! We had a lot of fun making our pizza (although I must admit we used a different recipe.)

Here is the recipe:

For the dough:
2/3 cup warm water
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 2/3 cups flour

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix yeast and water in a bowl.
3. Stir in sugar, salt and oil.
4. Slowly mix in flour.
5. Knead dough on a lightly floured, clean surface for 2 minutes.
6. Place dough ball in a bowl and cover. Let it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.
7. With greased hands, spread dough to fill a lightly oiled 12-inch pizza pan.

For the toppings:
3/4 cup pizza sauce
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Vegetables such as green peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, mushrooms

1. Spread sauce on the dough.
2. Chop vegetables and put them on top of the sauce.
3. Sprinkle cheese over everything.
4. Bake pizza for 15 to 25 minutes or until it looks done.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This is the way we make the dough fly. We toss it down low. We toss it up high" Add some sauce, cheese, green things and pepperoni and it's ready to bake. Read The Pizza that We Made to see what the pizza process is really like. In the end, it's always delicious! Fun for beginning readers K-2.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a simple story exploring each of the steps involved in making a pizza. I was a little disappointed that an adult appears halfway through the story to handle chopping onions and turning on the oven because up until then I really appreciated that the book promoted so much independence, but I know adults get nervous if they don't cover all the safety bases, so this is probably not a problem for most readers. My three-year-old loved this book.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tasty little easy reader.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rhyming story of 3 children who make a pizza (with Mom's help). A little small for story time and if our purchaser is able to purchase The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza, I might switch it out.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do we make a pizza?? Read along and find out. This was part of a "red" story time for preschoolers and it worked fine. This would be great to read one on one and do step by step construction of a pizza!

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute little book. I love reading books that rhyme, especially because they seem to make Sydney and Lauryn laugh. Also, we have to make pizza now, according to Sydney, so thanks for that author, LOL.

[Tinkerbelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this is a really good book am=nd i learned o.s i also used the recipe in the back!

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable read. My kids were enchanted. What a plus to find the recipe in the back of the book. Very cute!

[Judy Carey Nevin]

I collaborated with the Puffin editor on this one.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pizza recipe at the end! It will be fun to read these with Elo when she's reading for real and not for pretend.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rhyming book following a pizza recipe. From dough to cleaning up, it shows each step. There is a recipe at the end of the book.