Pizza for the Queen

Author: Nancy Castaldo
Publication Date: 2005
Type of Book: Multicultural Author Picture Book

This story was about Raffaele Esposito, a pizza maker in the city of Napoli. It was a normal day for the pizza maker until one of the queens messengers arrived in his pizza shop ordering a pizza for the queen. The queen had heard her servants bragging about Raffaele's delicious pizza and she wanted to try it for herself. Rafaele tried to decide what type of pizza he would make for the queen. He went around town and collected the freshest ingredients he could find for the queens pizzas. The queen wanted to try the pizza the people of Napoli loved and that is what he was going to give her. He made three different pizzas. Two of them he had made previously but when the plan for his third pizza didn't go as expected he came up with an idea that was fit for the queen. When the queen was delivered her pizzas she couldn't believe how delicious they were. The last pizza that Raffaele had created for the queen became a staple in his pizza shop and he named it after the queen.

I thought that this was such a cute story. I enjoyed reading about the different pizzas Raffaele was going to make for the queen and his adventures he took trying to find the ingredients. I also thought it was creative how in the back of the book there is a recipe for Pizza Margherita, which is the pizza he made for the queen.

Students would definitely love this fun story. For younger students the teacher could use it as a read aloud and for older students it can be used as a read aloud or used in small groups. This book can be used to teach students about life in a different country or it could be used to introduce the genre of informational texts because it includes the recipe in the back.

Image Resources:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/pizza-queen