Pete's A Pizza

Guaranteed to provide giggles, Pete's A Pizza by William Steig is a hands down favorite in our home. Poor Pete is shown in the begining of the book to be in a bad mood because it's raining and he can't go out to play. Pete's father decides to cheer him up by making Pete into a pizza. Pete is rolled like dough, tossed in the air, sprinkled with "oil" (it's really water) and garnished with "pepperoni" (it's really checkers). In no time at all Pete has forgotten how disappointed he was and is having a ball passing the rainy time indoors with his father.

My son has memorized the first page in this book and requests it on a nightly basis. The sentences are short and simple and the story can easily be acted out to provide even more fun for your little reader. The illustrations are bright and easily tell the story themselves.

Scholastic video has produced a fantastic DVD to go along with the book and seeing the book "in action" is a real treat. The video also contains a few more Steig favorites so children can experience his other books.

People often ask me what books I would recommend for their home library and Pete's A Pizza is one that I suggest everytime.

Goodnight Moon

A favorite among children everywhere, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is one of the best first books to introduce to a child in the early years. Although small children often times aren't able to read yet, they can easily point out what is happening on each page and "tell" the story themselves. After reading the book only a few times to my own son, he now flips through each page and "reads" to me. This board book is just the perfect size, too. It's small enough for little hands and sturdy enough to stand up to numerous readings which happen nightly at our house with this particular book. My son is also learning object recognition. He excitedly points to each thing on the page and names them one by one.

There are also several wonderful products you can purchase or borrow from your library that go along with Goodnight Moon to reinforce the concepts from the book. We regularly watch the Goodnight Moon DVD which is exactly like the book and there is also a Goodnight Moon board game, poster, and story prop kit available.

Final Thoughts: This is definitely a must-have for your child's home library. Easy to follow, full of teachable concepts (memorization, object recognition), and just plain fun to read.