Customer Reviews

Pizza for the Queen

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"Magnifico!" exclaims Queen Margherita as she enjoys a slice of pizza made especially for her by Raffaele Esposito. Based on a true story, Castaldo magnificently describes the story of Raffaele, the finest pizza maker in Napoli, who is requested by the queen to make a pizza. Raffaele searches the city for the optimal ingredients for the perfect pizza. With inspiration from the red, white, and green of the Italian flag, Raffaele creates a pizza fit for a queen, appropriately dubbed "Pizza Margherita." This delectable story is enhanced with Potter's vivacious illustrations that capture the appetizing quest of Raffaele. With close attention to detail, the intricate pictures are able to express the Italian culture in the late 1800's. The story, as well as the recipe included in the book for "Pizza Margherita," will satisfy children's appetites everywhere.

I borrowed this book from the library and my husband fell in love with it (so we bought it for Christmas for the kids). It's a fun story to read to our daughters. The illustrations are whimsical and fun, and the story is of a pizza maker in Naples who is honored with the task of making pizza for the queen who wants to eat the famed food the local peasants eat. It's allegedly the story behind pizza as we know it today, specifically Pizza Margherita, named for the queen and made with the colors of the Italian flag (red tomatoes, white cheese, green basil). During the story, we follow Raffaele the pizza maker on his journey to the different markets to gather ingredients for his pizza for the queen, giving the reader a quick "flavor" of what shopping is like at specialty markets and introducing young readers to the different wonderful products made in Italy (prosciutto, cheeses, olive oil, etc.) and to the art of pizza making. All is well until Raffaele's cat eats one of the ingredients--what will Raffele make instead? The Italian flag gives him inspiration and his famous pizza is born. A recipe for Pizza Margherita is included at the back of the book.

Through its colorful story and illustrations, Pizza for the Queen transports the reader back to 1889 Napoli, Italy where we are hot on the heels of Pizzamaker Raffaele Esposito as he whisks about gathering the finest ingredients to create some pizzas--ones not only to make his queen's mouth water, but also to allow her a taste of her subjects' favorite delicacies. Bravo to Author Nancy Castaldo and Illustrator Melisande Potter for this treat--tons of mouthwatering fun while we subtly learn about another time, place, and culture!

My daughter (& I) love this book! It's one of our favorites. Ordered it when she was 5 & had to shorten it as I read it. Now that she's a little older, she enjoys reading it by herself and we've even had pizza/slumber parties and always have to bring it out to read to the girls as they're eating!

We first found this book at the library, and after we checked it out and read it, we were curious to try the pizza recipe in the back, so we got the ingredients and made it. YUM! That is seriously the best pizza I have ever had. We kept checking it out at the library and making sure we had all the ingredients to make the pizza together each time we did. My 5 and 6 year olds LOVE helping make the pizzas, and they don't just want to make the pizza, they love reading the book first. We finally bought the book, and even bought an extra to give as a baby shower gift with two toddler size aprons for my sis-in-law who is having twins. Her husband is very handy in the kitchen, and I'm sure their little ones will love being a big help in the kitchen soon!

This book has a wonderful message and I love a good book based on a true story! Magnifico!