Pete's A Pizza

"This is a gentle, touching and playful picture book. It’s about the way one particular dad chooses to cheer up and distract his miserable son. It’s the ultimate rainy day solution. The poor boy, Pete, is inconsolable at the beginning. He wants to go out to play with his mates but it is raining. His dad has to think on his feet here – so he suggests turning Pete into a pizza. Slightly bizarre! He starts by throwing him up in the air. Then he puts him on the table and kneads him – this makes Pete laugh. He uses draughts pieces as pepperoni. Pete’s mother arrives with some torn up bits of paper which they all pretend is cheese and pretend the sofa is the oven. Just as they are about to take the Pete Pizza out of the oven the sun comes out and Pete is giggling and happy. It is so simple but manages to say everything about the relationship between the parents and Pete and between Pete and his dad. It’s really inventive and imaginative – they just use things lying around the house to make up a story. Yes – and it is the complete opposite to wonderful books like Not Now, Bernard by McKee where the parents are so remote they don’t notice when their son is eaten by a monster. To the point that, throughout that book, you only see the parents’ lower halves – it is entirely viewed from Bernard’s perspective. Which is hilarious. “I feel, as an illustrator, that there has been a sea change in the way ‘dads’ are portrayed, and it’s happened relatively recently” There is something rather touching about Pete’s A Pizza – this is two parents giving their time to their child when he is miserable. I like that. He’s a kind dad – which brings me on to my next choice, Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems."