Nothing Beats a Pizza

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

The comic, no-holds-barred poetry in Nothing Beats a Pizza begs to be
read aloud, preferably in a group. As the author observes in the
introduction, “A poem said inside your head or only read in
silence—that’s like leaving all these poems stuck in cages.”

The book vibrates with energy, like Ruby, a dog full of pounce and
bounce. Dogs inspire more than one long narrative poem. In “The Clean
Dog Boogie,” a not-so-helpful puppy polishes door knobs with his
tongue, licks lampshades, and slurps dirty walls. Finally, the pet-shop
owner tells the distraught family to push the switch near the seventh
freckle on his top. This turns the new dog into “a regular mutt ... a
conventional canine,” but the family occasionally wishes that the
switch to turn him on again could be found.

Loris Lesynski obviously loves words, as readers of her books will
remember. The back cover promises the reader “You never SAUSAGE
pictures! and OLIVE the words are neat.” Nothing Beats a Pizza is
guaranteed to amuse young readers and encourage them to write their own
stories and poems. Highly recommended.