PIZZA!

Following a stack of Pancakes! (2016), Nieminen dishes up ingredients and instructions for another tasty treat.

Equally suitable for real or imaginary kitchens, this recipe in board-book format begins with geometrically stylized representations of ingredients (“1 teaspoon of sugar,” for instance, is represented by a round-topped white triangle) and required bowls, measuring cups, and other gear. It then goes on to steps for mixing, kneading, and rising the dough, pre-cooking the crust, adding sauce (from a jar) and toppings, and baking until done. Labels and captions identify everything and explain each step in turn. Prospective chefs too young to do the actual cooking can pretend or follow along by using heavy-duty pull tabs to simulate pouring and mixing, then “knead” a smooth plastic pad, set the oven temperature with a geared wheel (and, prompts a safety note, an adult’s help, as “real ovens are hot!”), lift a flap to check the pie, and finally pull out a wedge-shaped slice when it’s finished. “Delicious!”

Like the little bear in Frank Asch’s Pizza (2015), toddlers will be left with an appetite for seconds. And thirds….