The Princess and the Pizza
By: Mary Jane Auch and Herm Auch
Designed by Erin Bowers, Anna Clark, and Joanna Sajda
Intended for 3-4th graders
Welcome to a website designed to enhance the reading of The Princess and the Pizza, a story that tells of the comical experiences Princess Paulina encounters when she competes in a contest to become the wife of Prince Drupert. The Princess and the Pizza references fairy tails throughout the book, adding wit and humor to the story. As a part of the contest to win Prince Drupert as her husband, Paulina has to cook something tasty to impress Queen Zelda, Prince Drupert’s mother. After quite a few challenges in the kitchen, Princess Paulina whips up a pizza that impresses Queen Zelda. Paulina surprises the readers, however, when she decides not to marry the prince! Read the book to find out what she does instead!
The Princess and the Pizza is written by Mary Jane and Herm Auch. According to the websites http://www.southstpaul.org/OurTown/AboutAuthor.html and http://mjauch.com/About.html, "Mary Jane is an author, illustrator, and poultry fan. She has written contemporary and historical novels as well as humorous picture books. Many of her picture books feature Auch's favorite feathered friends--chickens--which she renders in brilliant, heat-dried oil paints. Among her titles are the juvenile novels Journey to Nowhere, I Was a Third-Grade Science Project, and A Sudden Change of Family. Herm Auch made his first venture into children's books by illustrating I Was A Third Grade Science Project, written by Mary Jane. After forty years as a newspaper graphic artist, Herm retired in 2000 to pursue a new career as a children’s book illustrator. The Auchs have now become a family of artists."
Below is a list of activities to complete as you read this book. Follow the directions and complete each activity in the order it is listed.
Before You Read:
Activity 1:
Click on the pizza man
to
find out where pizza came from and who made the first pizzas! Print out
this
worksheet and answer the questions as you read about the history
of pizza on the website.
Activity 2:
Click on the world
to check out PIZZA
WORLD RECORDS!!! This is a really cool website! You won’t
believe what you’ll see! Look at the pictures and read about the world’s
largest pizza and the world’s largest pizza order. Once you’ve finished
looking at the website, take out your journal and write a paragraph answering
the question "How would you make the biggest
pizza in the world?" Write about where and how you would make the pizza, how
many people will help to make the pizza, and what you would put on the pizza
(i.e. toppings).
Include a drawing of your pizza below your paragraph if you wish.
Activity 3:
Click on the pizza slice
to create a virtual
pizza! Enter your name and grade in the appropriate blanks and press the next
button. Follow the directions on the website to make your own pizza! Print out
the recipe for your pizza at the end to use later!
While You Read:
Activity 1:
Now that you know all about pizza, it’s time to start reading the book and learning about the princess. Before you begin reading print off this fairytale worksheet by clicking on the icon below.
The fairytales that are in the book are listed for you on the worksheet. When you are finished reading, click on the Princess and the Pea icon to read The Princess and the Pea story and visit the website to read about Cinderella by clicking on the Cinderella icon. Then fill in the “what it really is” part to complete the chart.
As a bonus, on the other side of the worksheet, write a fairytale that you made up yourself, or write one that you already know.
Activity 2:
On your own sheet of paper, write your name on the top left corner and write the title of the book in the top right corner of the page.
Draw five lines going down you paper which make five columns. Label the first column setting, the second column characters--draw a line under the main character, the third column problem, the fourth column major events, and the fifth column conclusion.
As you read the story The Princess and the Pizza, fill in the different sections on your sheet of paper.
The setting is where the story takes place. The characters are the people involved in the story. The problem is what is going wrong in the story. The major events are the important actions that the characters are going through. The conclusion is how the story ends.
After You Read:
Write a letter to Queen Zelda telling her what makes a
perfect princess. You can find a letter format
by clicking here
.
Explore this online website to find similarities and differences between Pizza from other countries and write a short paragraph on a separate piece of paper. Chose two countries to write about in your paragraph and compare the kind of pizza each country eats. Click on the icons below to visit the websites to find out what kind of pizza people eat around the world!
Chose your favorite pizza topping and then place a sticky note on the bar graph on the wall in your classroom where your favorite topping is to see how you compare to your classmates!
After exploring the Pizza Joe
website, print out this Venn diagram by clicking on the pizza
to compare the different kinds of
pizza from other countries around the world. Put the United States in one
circle and chose another country to put in the second circle. Write their
similarities in the part of the circles that overlaps in the middle and write
their differences on the two sides of each circle.
*Print off this checklist to make sure you have completed all of your activities!*
Sources:
http://jca/gilead.org.il/princess.html
http://www.pizzajoe.co.uk/pizzanet_uk/pizza_history2.htm
http://www.pizzajoe.co.uk/pizzanet_uk/pizzarecords.htm
http://www.pizzajoe.co.uk/pizzanet_uk/virtualpizza.html
http://pizzaware.com/facts.htm
http://www.pizzajoe.co.uk/pizzanet_uk/pizzatoppings.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us
http://www.animationlibrary.com/a-l/?n=search.php3&search=bubbles&start=8&end=8
http://www.amazon.com