<BR> Hi, Pizza Man! <small> by Virginia Walter </small>

Hi Pizza Book!

There's nothing worse than falling in love with a book, or discovering a series, only to find the damning Out-of-Print applies to it. Once a library book goes out of print, there’s no way to get a replacement copy unless the powers that be of publishing decide to grant it a reprint.

There are a few books I guard like gold in my library because of this -- they're a fundamental part of my regular reading to kids and I’d sorely miss having them. This lament is inspired by one of my treasures that has gone missing and I am hoping it's just misshelved.

The book is called Hi, Pizza Man! written Virginia Walter and illustrated by Ponder Goembel. It has become one of my favorite stories for the younger Pre-K audience. The premise is simple enough: a young girl is waiting impatiently for the pizza man to come, so her mother plays a game with her, asking her what she will say when the pizza man arrives and they open the door. (answer "Hi, Pizza Man!") But now, this book takes a trip into the silly and slightly surreal as the text asks: but what if it's a pizza kitty? or a pizza cow?... Each question is responded to with the correct animal sound and a hysterical image of the fairly realistic looking animal dressed in some kind of wild hat or acccessory and holding the ubiquitous pizza box. At the very end, the doorbell rings and we open the door to see . . . the pizza man of course!

This is great book for younger listeners learning about patterns and what to expect in a book. It can give the kids some practice in figuring out animal sounds and slightly more experienced listeners can point out where each animal is holding the pizza (head, back, tail, etc.). It's funny and entertaining due to the illustrations which always amuse my audience. What also makes this delightful is that I work in a city library--and so often books portray a country or suburban style background. But most city-kids know all about the pizza man and food delivery and this could easily be taking place at an apartment in the city.

This book is best with the toddler to pre-K age range, as older kids will be onto more complex books. I find it a great break the ice book for my classes, even a shy class will be responding and chuckling by the end.

Sadly, this wonderful book has been out of print for years and while used copies are available—I still wish I could order new copies for my library. Really great concept books that use humor are too few and far between as it is. If you’ve never seen this book, see if your local library has a copy to borrow.

Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad

Hi, Pizza Man!