All children have the tendency to get grumpy, frumpy and otherwise bothered. They sometimes feel (as we all do) that the world is unfair, that they are moving against the current or swimming upstream in a flowing river. It’s a pretty tough realization for kids when they first start to understand that the world was not made exactly to fit their every convenience. As babies and toddlers, they are catered to and cared for to the utmost level. As they get older, they have to find their groove in the rhythm of life; sometimes the record skips and this leaves them frustrated, alienated and just downright grumpy.

Pete, the title character in Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig, is feeling down in the dumps because he can’t play ball with his neighborhood buddies due to the rainy weather. All children sympathize with him as we see him, in a window, watching a dog walk through the yard in the pouring rain. The color illustrations are wonderful and unmistakeably Steig.

Pete is in a funk. He’s just sulking there, cranky and disinterested in the world around him. If you have a child of any age, this might seem like a familiar picture. It is such a crime for a child to be bored! What with all of the excellent things to think about, learn about, invent, imagine and create.

Pete’s Dad saves the day by turning Pete into a pizza. As Pete’s Dad “kneads the dough” and “moves it this way and that”, we can start to see a hint of a smile crossing over Pete’s face. Pete’s Dad covers Pete in pretend cheese and tomatoes; our 4 ½ year old loves to be 'in the know’ about the fact that the cheese is really torn up pieces of paper and the tomatoes are really checkers. Eventually, Pete’s Dad puts the ‘Pete-Za’ in the oven (that’s really the sofa) and bakes it. Pete and his Dad then proceed to play a spot of a chase, tickle and hug game, when all of a sudden the sun comes out and Pete can go outside to play ball with his friends.

A particularly poignant point in the story is when Pete’s Dad tickles Pete (when he is in pizza mode). His Dad says, “Pizzas aren’t supposed to laugh,” and Pete shoots back (with a very serious look on his face), “Pizza-makers are not supposed to tickle their pizzas". This illustrates an interesting, true dynamic that exists between parents and kids: the kids sometimes have to keep the parents in line and tell them how things are. Parents, like children, can get carried away on their own tangents and need a little prodding to bring them back to reality.

I don’t like to over-analyze, but this simple page in the book brings a lot of light to this parent-child dynamic of ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ or ‘You’re right, I’m wrong’: rightness and wrongness only exist in relationship to each other. What the parent says could be wrong (or right) from the child’s perspective; what the child says could be wrong (or right) from the parent’s perspective.

Most of all, Pete’s a Pizza gives parents a wonderful tool for turning a child’s frown upside down. Try turning your grumpy kid into a pizza, burrito, or an arepa and watch his or her crankiness instantly disappear and turn into giggles, laughter and best of all HUGS!

In it’s hardback version, Pete’s a Pizza is 30 pages long. This is a picture book; there are only one or two sentences per page with large, color illustrations on each page. Our copy of Pete’s a Pizza was $11.99 at Amazon.

I highly recommend reading Pete’s a Pizza with children ages 3 and up. Pete himself seems to be about 6 or 7, but kids of all ages with sympathize with his lonesome plight of being bored at home when it’s raining.

Another great book for grumpy children: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Vorst. Check out my review of it at:
http://www.epinions.com/content_10413379204

Happy Reading!


Recommended: Yes