Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta

by Aimee Lucido, Mavisu Demirag (Illustrator)

Overview

A New York Public Library Book for Kids 2024
A Bank Street Book of the Year

A family dinner gets out of hand as guest after guest arrives with a different pasta request in this “delectable” (Kirkus Reviews) and rambunctious rhyming picture book. How much pasta is too much pasta?

Ring-a-ding, the doorbell rings, and oh! What did my Nonna bring?

Nonna Ana from Catania only likes to eat lasagna. But Nonno Titi from Tahiti only eats his spaghettini! Zio Tony wants ravioli, Zia Trini wants rotini, the cugini want tortellini... Family dinners can be tricky when the guests are oh-so-picky! As the kitchen gets more and more chaotic, can family pasta night go off without a hitch?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534473638
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	07/02/2024
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Aimee Lucido is the author of several books for kids, including Emmy in the Key of Code, Recipe for Disaster, and Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta. She got her MFA in writing for children and young adults at Hamline University and lives with her family in Berkeley, California, where she likes to do trivia, run, and write crossword puzzles.

Mavisu Demirag is an artist living in Izmir, Turkey. She graduated from Dokuz Eylul University with a degree in fashion design, but later turned her sights to her true passion: illustration. She is the illustrator of picture books including Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta by Aimee Lucido and many books published in Turkey and internationally.

Editorial Reviews

* Lucido’s bouncy rhyming lines are a pure joy to read aloud, and an abrupt comic turn at the end that marvelously maintains the rhyme scheme is sure to leave little ones hungry for repeat reads (and pasta). A playful pick, superb for group story time.

6/1/24 - STARRED Review Booklist

"Readers will eat this up. Who wouldn’t love a book about yummy foods, told in such a delightfully bouncy manner?... As delectable as a book can get. Try it. You’ll really like it!"

5/1/24 - Kirkus Reviews

Explore the many varieties of pasta in rhymes as tongue-twisting as the finest fusilli. Feast with this lively family in a book that is deliciously funny and as warm as freshly cooked tortellini.

Best Books for Kids 2024 - New York Public Library

Infectious rhythm, delightfully crowded artwork, and a buoyant story about dinnertime disaster combine in this deliciously playful picture book that’s a joy to read aloud.

12/1/2024 - Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth

2024-04-05
Mangia! Can one ever tire of Italian food?

Introducing luscious homemade cuisine! The text is almost an aria, expressed in rollicking verse that not only extols the deliciousness of various types of pasta, but also outlines their construction (from scratch, of course). A pale-skinned child welcomes relatives who arrive one by one from wonderful places that rhyme with their names (“Nonno Tito from Tahiti only eats our spaghettini”). Then everyone creates delicacies such as ravioli, lasagna, and rotini. What a large family! What intricate preparations! What ingredients! Even the pets have their favorites. Finally, the family sits down to the bountiful feast, but Mamma accidentally drops the dishes on her way to serve them. “BASTA!” shouts a frustrated Mamma. But all’s not lost. A final ring of the doorbell brings another very welcome visitor, someone who’s fortunately carrying boxes containing a substitute Italian repast. Readers will eat this up. Who wouldn’t love a book about yummy foods, told in such a delightfully bouncy manner? One quibble: There’s no guide to help kids learn to pronounce the food names accurately. Still, the sumptuous foods—long strands of pasta, leaves of basil—pop in the digitally rendered collage illustrations, and Demirağ captures the busy culinary activities of this tightknit, racially diverse family.

As delectable as a book can get. Try it. You’ll really like it! (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews