Rock Out!

Pizza and Taco #5

by Stephen Shaskan

Besties Pizza and Taco are ready to rock out! They have a cool band name! And some instruments—sort of. Songs? Well, even without mad musical skills, how hard can it be? This super-silly graphic novel series by Stephen Shaskan hits a new high note!

Pizza and Taco love music! They make lists, and they have tryouts to get more band members. They think they have all the ingredients to rock the scene. But maybe this garage band should stay in the garage!!

This hilarious young graphic novel—with chapters—will tickle the funny bones of kids ages 5 to 8 and bolster their reading confidence. Young graphic chapter books are a great step on the way to graphic novels and longer chapter books.

Readers will devour all the books in the
Pizza and Who's the Best?
Pizza and Best Party Ever!
Pizza and Super-Awesome Comic!
Pizza and Too Cool For School

Genres: Graphic Novels, Humor, Childrens, Music, Fiction, Fantasy, Food

72 pages, Hardcover

Published January 3, 2023

Reviews

[Vivian Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great book for kids. And interesting 🤔

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters Pizza and Taco are surely the most unlikely pair to appear in books for children, but they're even more unlikely to head their own garage band. All of this makes this particular book--3.5 for me--even more appealing and giggle-inducing. In its five chapters, this book had me laughing at the take-offs on band names and their songs ["the Beetles," "the Jo-Jo's," "Jam Jett," and the "Food Fighters" (unpaged), for instance] as well as the very fact that neither of them can play an instrument or even has one, for that matter. Instead, they focus on less important matters such as coming up with a name for their still-nonexistent band before moving on to the essential step of finding more members for the band. After all, two members won't be enough for what they have in mind. Readers will do a double-take when they see the would-be performers with food-related names [of course!] such as Veggie Burger, Tofu Dog, Bacon, Egg, Cookie, Muffin. After narrowing down their choices, Pizza and Taco are ready to rehearse with their new band. But first they need to write a song, another important consideration they've ignored. They might be ready to rock, but they clearly haven't thought things through. Youngsters and the adults in their lives will be thoroughly entertained by this graphic novel, the fifth in the series. If it's their very first venture into comics, the entry will be smooth since the book features minimal text, large panels and only a few to a page. Plus, the characters look so much like their namesake foods that it's hard to resist smiling while reading about them. I found myself humming along and imagining other rock bands whose names could be corrupted in order to fit the story.

[Penny Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this adorable graphic novel. The music humor is so much fun!

[Read Ribbet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rock Out! is the latest in Stephen Shaskan's graph novel series for young were readers featuring main characters Pizza and Taco. In this graphic novel, the two best friends Taco and Pizza decide to start a rock band. Their process of establishing a band has stops and starts as they try to figure what needs to be done to be a good band. Shaskan's narrative includes some puns nodding to existing rock stars. Readers do learn that perhaps starting a list of steps needed to accomplish any goal is one good strategy for moving forward successfully.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

How hard is it to create your own band? Well, Taco and Pizza soon find out. After discussing their favorite bands: Beetles, Jo-Jo’s, Jam Jett, and Food Fighters, they decided to create their own band because that would be so cool! They each have their own vision of what they should sound/look like, the besties must now make some comprises as they get to work planning and putting their new group together. I love the creativity behind this book as there are lots of funny moments as the duo discovers that this new dream of theirs is harder than they imagined.
Pizza will be strumming the guitar and Taco really wants to play the tambourine in their new band. A calm Taco is portrayed rocking it out, with colorful strings hanging off his instrument as he moves to the music. Pizza feels that Taco should take it up a notch and hammer down on some drums in their band and the contrast between these two pictures is funny. From deciding what they should call their band to recruiting other band members, and deciding how to move forward, it’s obvious that they need to comprise. Pizza needs to let Taco help make some of the decisions as this is a group decision.

The Best Friend’s Dance makes an appearance as they needed some music to perform. After they did some “think, think, think” to come up with some lyrics to write and coming up empty, they put their famous dance to music. The reaction from their potential band members wasn’t what they hoped but the besties thought it was “awesome!” “yaaas!” and that keeps their energy pumped. Who thought putting a band together would be this much work?

Super fun series that keep my grandchildren and I laughing as we read each book. We’ve read each book in this series so many times, my preschool grandchildren know each story by heart, and they tell me if I am missing a word when I read them out loud to them. You don’t really need to read them in order, but you’ll appreciate them more, if you do. They sometimes relate to the previous stories in the sequential books but for the most part, you’ll be able to follow the story. 5 stars

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: Taco: Check out my fave band! Pizza: Lollipop and the Popcorns? Taco: YAAAS! Pizza: Anyone can do that!

Premise/plot: Pizza and Taco--two best friends--are back in their fifth early reader graphic novel. In this adventure, the two decide--with a little back and forth--to start their own band. But, it isn't as easy as they hoped. (And Phineas and Ferb made it look so easy!!!) Will this band break up before they've even written and practiced one song????

My thoughts: I have enjoyed this series. Pizza and Taco are such a fun duo! I enjoy the world in which they live. It's just a fun, super-silly, quirky early reader series. I don't equally love, love, love each and every book the same. (The fourth book wasn't love for me.) But overall, the series is fun and recommendable.

Adult readers will notice some puns and jokes that younger readers may not quite fully grasp.

[Hannah Huffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was really fun and cute! The best friend duo, Pizza and Taco, decide to start a band. They talk about their favorite bands and artists and the food puns about actual artists made me laugh, especially the Food Fighters. They decide on the name ‘Awesome Yaaaas” for their band and hold tryouts. I loved the hippie tofu hotdog, but end up inviting Hamburger and regular Hotdog to join them for practice but they leave because Pizza and Taco are not as serious about it as they are. Pizza and Taco decide they could be a duo and also come to the conclusion that starting a band in much harder than it looks. I think this series would be a great thing to keep in the classroom library for K-2nd graders because they are very easy and fast reads for them to build up more confidence and experience.

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pizza and Taco, with Hotdog and Hamburger, form a rock and roll band - Awesome Yaaas! But forming a band isn't as easy as they thought it'd be. Gathering band members, getting instruments, and writing songs all turn out to be challenges for P & T. Challenging for them, fun for us!

Lots of fun food names for popular musicians, like Food Fighters, Jam Jett, and Justin Tatertot! (Jam Jett sings “I love Lobster Roll” BTW…). Another fun volume in this series! And we're very excited for the new one to come out in July! Yaaas!

[Stacey Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite Pizza and Taco but okay. They try to form a band without having instruments or knowing how to play any. Mostly they want a cool name for the band. Others who try out are way more experienced but Pizza and Taco don't except them into the band. When they do get two more band members they lose them quickly because they realize that Pizza and Taco aren't ready to lead a band or even be in a band. None of this fazes Pizza and Taco.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic Novel
Pizza and Taco are back and decide to form their own band. Readers see the problem as neither character likes the same style of music nor can play an instrument. Pizza does not listen to Taco and pushes his ideas. Plenty of humor for mid-elementary level readers with a message of listening to each other and putting in the practice to succeed.

[Ellon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars (I liked it)

This wasn't my favorite of the series but it was still cute. I did feel like it ended kind of abruptly without a satisfying conclusion.

Pizza and Taco want to start a band but they like different music... and they don't know how to play an instruments.

The food/band puns in the beginning were very fun.

[Josianne Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not enjoy as much as previous titles in the series but did like that they demonstrate that joining a band is not as easy as it seems. Applies to lots of things kids see on YouTube. I’m reminded of my 8 year old son thinking he’d be able to do tricks on his skateboard as soon as he got one for Christmas.

[Qhrysanthemum · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute, silly, little story. I think the references to the bands are where I liked it the most, but I feel like most little ones reading would most likely have more fun with the idea of making a band after picking this book up than the book itself. I think having a book where funny foods do things is cute, I liked it very much.

[Ruth Casady · Rating 4 out of 5]

this pizza and taco book was really good because they made their own band and I like that because they had so many funny things in it like when they ordered the wrong instruments and the people that they said were good for the band they decided to quit because they got the wrong instruments. but they still played their instruments anyway without them.

[Kelsey Adelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a great graphic novel. It is very easy to follow, with a few words on each page. It is an easy reading level book that would be great for the upper elementary grades. It has fun fictional characters with a creative plot! I would have this book in my classroom library for just a fun read for students! It is a light-hearted read that I think many kids would enjoy.

[Karol · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of Pizza and Taco’s graphic books!
Yes, they love music and want to start a band!!
They go through all the up and down moments to get a band together and continue to appreciate great music.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another P&T classic! This series takes me back to grade school; I was really into books like this! P&T is like a 'time vacation' for me - going back to long ago days when all you had to do was go to school and play with your friends. Introduce a small child to P&T - they will thank you!

[Dippit! with E.S.Jennette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pizza and Taco have decided to have a rock band and they decided that they wanted more people to rock out with and they have a really fun time doing it!

They celebrated with a big jump, fist pump and a butt pump.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't get why Hotdog and Hamburger keep putting up with Pizza and Taco. 😆 Pizza and Taco decide to start a band. They have tryouts. Then they have their first practice, in which the people who tried out realize Pizza and Taco have no idea how to play instruments or be in a band. Goofy.

[Autumn Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't really recommend these series. Here are some reasons:
(1) It only took me 8 minutes to read.
(2) It was only 59 pages long!
(3) The pages would have speech bubbles at the maximum of 8 times with 1 or less sentence in each speech bubble.

[Christina Causey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t quite reach the heights of literary excellence to which their Super Awesome Comic soared, but still fun.
7 year old’s review: “It didn’t have super farts & onion breath, but it was good.” Infinity & beyond ♾️⭐️

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pizza and Taco find it’s harder to form a band than they thought.

[Erica Flory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the rock references!

[Holly Letson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an alright story overall. I just think that they should have cared more about their friends, instead of being so self-centered.

[Madison LibraryBookFamily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fun puns were slipped into the music mentions.

[Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Socks were knocked off

[Jennifer Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the references of real singers but turned into food. My favorite part! 🙂🙂

[Rachelle Greer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as funny as the first one but still enjoyable.

[Paula Greenfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. Pizza and Taco are looking to start a band and looking for more members.