Signe Wilkinson
. . .Pete's a Pizza must be added to the strategic bedside shelf of parenting advice.
—New York Times Book Review
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
Pete holding himself stiff as a crust while being carried to the oven-couch is alone enough to make you laugh. -- The New York Times
Signe Wilkinson
. . .Pete's a Pizza must be added to the strategic bedside shelf of parenting advice. -- The New York Times Book Review
Horn Book
Young Pete, a soulmate of the formidable sulker Spinky, moodily contemplates a rain-drenched landscape when his understanding father decides to cheer him up by transforming him into a pizza. The recipe: plenty of kneading, stretching, twirling, and decorating with delicacies such as cheese (in reality pieces of paper) and tomatoes (checkers), plus tickling and obviously lots of love. Result: one happy small boy and a great book to share with would-be pizzas of all ages. As always, the illustrations develop characters and situations with telling economy. The small, square format is a departure for Steig, with a distinctive upper-case, sans serif typeface that somehow -- and appropriately -- suggests instructions to a game. By the way, don't overlook the wordplay in the title.
Kirkus Reviews
Steig, inspired by a game he used to play with his daughter, turns a rainy day into a pizza party, starring a caring father and his feeling-blue son, Pete. Just when Pete was set to go play ball with his friends, it starts to rain. His melancholy is not lost on his father: 'He thinks it might cheer Pete up to be made into a pizza. Which is just what the father proceeds to do. Pete is transported to the kitchen table where he is kneaded and stretched, tossed into the air for shaping, sprinkled with oil and flour and tomatoes and cheese (water, talcum, checkers, and bits of paper). He then gets baked on the living room couch and tickled and chased until the sun comes out and it is time to speed outside, a pizza no more, but happy. What leaps from the page, with a dancer's grace, is the warmth and imagination wrapped in an act of kindness and tuned- in parenting. As always, Steig's illustrations are a natural, an organic, part of the story, whether Pete's a pizza, or not.
