Pasta! These Names Are Fun to Say

by Felice Arena, Beatrice Cerocchi (Illustrator)

Overview

A funny, informative, read-aloud rhyming picture book about one of children's favorite food: Pasta!

Pasta tastes delicious, but do you know that pasta names are also fun to say? Join a group of children (and a cat) as they discover thirty-six kinds of pasta. And lots of sauces too! Grab your fork and spoon and enjoy this rhyming romp through the menu. It's enough to make anyone hungry for PASTA!

These pasta words are fun to say:

Spaghettini

Fagottini

Ditalini

More Grattini?

Manicotti

Agnolotti

That's a lot-ti!

Perfect for:

• read-aloud sessions with mom, dad, and teachers!
• classroom fun!
• Pasta art and menu inspiration

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464217920
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.75(w) x 10.50(h) x 0.33(d)
Lexile:	AD210L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Celebrated Australian children’s author Felice Arena is the creator of many popular and award-winning children's books for all ages, including the acclaimed middle-grade Epic Historic Adventures novels – The Boy and the Spy, Fearless Frederic, and A Great Escape – the bestselling Specky Magee series, and many more. Visit www.felicearena.com and Instagram.com/felicearenabooks

Beatrice Cerocchi is an illustrator and architect based in Rome, Italy. She was selected at Bologna, Shanghai and Beijing Children’s Book Fair. In 2021 she took part in the exhibition Italian Excellence, the new generation of Italian children’s illustrators organized by Bologna Children’s Book Fair. 

Editorial Reviews

"This short, simple, and lyrical celebration of pasta will engage and entertain children as they chant along to catchy rhymes that highlight different pasta shapes and sauces. Each page bursts with energy... Its rhythmic text and lively artwork make it an enjoyable read-aloud for children, encouraging a love of both language and food." — Booklist

From the Publisher

2024-10-12
Passatelli, mostaccioli, and sagnarelli—oh my!

Since the musicality of these words is everything, readers should flip to the back for a guide to pronouncing the proper names of 35 selected varieties of Italian pasta. There they’ll find tagliatelle (tah-lyuh-TELL-lay), casoncelli (caz-un-CHEL-lee), and riccioli (ree-CHOH-lee). In the story itself, the names are arranged so that they rhyme—not an amazing feat in Italian, but amusing and propulsive nonetheless. It’s impossible, of course, to highlight anywhere near the 400-plus examples of pasta here, but some of the most fun shapes have been overlooked. Readers won’t find cavatappi (corkscrews), farfalle (butterflies), or linguine (little tongues). Arena explains that “orecchiette” means “little ears” but doesn’t provide the delightful meanings of the other pastas, such as ditalini (little thimbles) or campanelle (bellflowers). It isn’t always clear which names go with which pastas in the illustrations; the endpapers do shed further light, though not for all the varieties. Portraying smiling, racially diverse kids and a tabby cat, the illustrations are bright, appealing, and inventive, and readers will enjoy shouting out the pasta names, but there’s not much to entice them for rereads.

Attractive and catchy but less than satisfying.(Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews